Influence of using treated wastewater with moringa seeds and chitosan on wheat growth and uptake of nutrients and heavy

Abstract

The present study was carried out to treat wastewater and investigate its impact on wheat growth, uptake of nutrients and heavy metals. To achieve this task, two experiments were conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University-Cairo-Egypt, during winter season of 2014. The 1 st (lab experiment) was for treatment wastewater by using moringa seeds and chitosan with different doses (0.5, 1 and 2g/l as powder and 1, 2 and 3 % as extract). The 2 nd (pot experiment) was carried out to investigate the effect of the previously treated wastewater on wheat growth, uptake of nutrients and heavy metals.The main results from the first experiment showed that heavy metals concentration in wastewater decreased significantly by increasing the addition of the added materials. Moringa seeds and chitosan as powders were more effective than its extracts. Results from the second experiment indicated that there was an increase in both fresh and dry weight of wheat plant irrigated with treated wastewater compared with control. Also, the highest values were observed at the highest dose of chitosan extract (3%). On the other hand, the uptake of N, P and K by wheat plants increased significantly by increasing the added materials. Moreover, the heavy metals uptake by wheat plant (µg/plant) was decreased by addition of the treated materials. Sayed A. AbdeenChitosan biopolymer has a possess electro-static properties to adsorb metals according to ion exchange mechanism. The adsorption properties of chitosan biopolymer are attributed to its functional group including increase of hydrophilicity by hydroxyl groups of the polymer. This helps to enhance the diffusion of polymer networks and allows adsorbing metals from aqueous solutions. Amino groups of chitosan are very important for adsorption processes compared to hydroxyl group, for which degree of deacetylation is an important parameter to evaluate the quality of the chitosan biopolymer (Crini 2005) .The mechanism of metal ions removal by chitosan is shown in Figure (1).

Long term effects of untraditional irrigation water qualities on some soil properties and fertilization program

“…(Hamid et al, 2013). Treated wastewater can be used for irrigation of wheat plant, but it must be considering the longterm effect of treated wastewater on human health and environment in terms of heavy metals and pathogens (Abdeen., 2016).…”