Integration of water hyacinth plants into waste stabilization ponds: a case study of Donnybrook 4 Sewage Ponds in Mabvuku-Tafara, Harare, Zimbabwe

Hoko, Zvikomborero; Toto, Tariro N.

doi:10.1007/s10661-020-08579-6

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It was itemized as one of the world's top 10 worst weeds by International Union for Conservation of Nature (Sharma and Aggarwal, 2020). Many serious threats to the agroecosystem such as blocking irrigation and drainage canals, high water consumption, acting as channels for greenhouse gas emissions from watercourses and destruction of native biodiversity are posed by water hyacinth (Masto et al 2013;Hoko and Toto 2020). Water hyacinth (WH) biomass is cellulosic in nature and when it is disposed or dumped into soils, the carbon in biomass will readily decompose due to high biodegradation (Masto et al 2013;Gaurav et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This aquatic plant has also rapid proliferation and can widely infest fresh water bodies as it is the case in the Nile River. Existing control methods for water hyacinth have been insufficient to control its aggressive propagation in nutrient-rich water bodies (Abdel Shafy et al, 2016;Hoko and Toto 2020). As attempts to control water hyacinth population in water bodies have not been completely successful, the best lenitive measure is to find alternative usages of this aquatic plant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessment of Water Hyacinth Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Sandy Soils

El-Azeim

Salah

Hammam

2021

Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Soil application of water hyacinth biochar as a source of nutrient-and carbon-rich biomass may be an effective ploy to eradicate this invasive aquatic weed. Incubation trial was conducted to assess effects of water hyacinth biochar addition on some sandy soil biochemical and biological properties and potential carbon sequestration at different application rates and methods. Results demonstrated that pyrolysis of water hyacinth at temperature of 300 °C and 30 min furnace residence time produced biochar with coveted physicochemical properties. Field emission scanning electronic microscopy (FE-SEM) images obtained for water hyacinth biochar showed major macroscopic changes caused by substantial changes in pore structure, surface area and surface morphology due to insufficient carbonization. Soil biochemical and microbiological characteristics after incubation exposed obvious significant improvements at all rates compared to control and varied markedly between addition of biochar as incorporation and broadcasting. Among different treatments, biochar addition as incorporation at the rate of 3% resulted in higher significant increases in most tested soil parameters. Water hyacinth biochar provided nitrogen and carbon immediately via SOC, DOC and DON in treated sandy soils providing energy for microbial biomass compared to control and this reflected by increases in soil values of C-MIC N-MIC and P-MIC. In addition, water hyacinth biocharring would greatly improve sandy soil carbon sequestration at high application rates. It could be concluded that water hyacinth transformation into biochar represents a sustainable strategy for managing these weeds and thus become a valuable organic source for sandy soils and will boost carbon sequestration.

show abstract