THE INFLUENCE OF WASTE WATER TREATED AND MANURE ON MN UPTAKE AND GROWTH OF WATER SPINACH (Ipomea aquatica L.) IN ANDISOL

Sri Nuryani Hidayah Utami, Arina Pramudita and Mulyono Nitisapto

Department of Soil Science, Faculty Agriculture, GadjahMadaUniversity, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, cp:

Keywords : wastewater treated, poultry manure, Mn uptake, water spinach, Andisol

Abstract

The existence of the heavy metal such as Mn in water was not desired because could be toxic to human life. Soils can be used as filtered, absorbed or exchanger the heavy metal on the sewage. This research was study the ability of Andisol in reducing Mn of sewage sludge, so the water can be used to irrigate plants.

A greenhouse experiment in pots was carried out in order to assess the effect of combination of treated waste water and dose of poultry manure on the bioavailability of heavy metal Mn in contaminated soils and its uptake from agricultural plants. Water spinach(Ipomea aquatica L.) plants were grown. Soil samples were analyzed for determination the content of elements: Mn and other soil chemical properties. Concentration of the Mn was measured in the leaves and roots of investigated plants, after the harvesting.

The research was used Completely Randomized Design with two factor. The first factor was irrigated by treated wastewater folowed by Andisol and untreated wastewater irrigated. The second factor was the poultry manure doses: 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% of the soil weight.

The result showed that treated wastewater by slow-sand followed by Andisol filtered reduced BOD, COD, suspended solid, Mn and Fe concentration in wastewater. Treated wastewater by slow-sand followed by Andisol filtered decreased plants height, fresh and dry weight biomass of water spinach. Water spinach irrigated by untreated and treated waste water tended have high level Mn on leaves and roots, but still below the levels which can be toxic to the plants. A higher concentration of Mn was established in the roots of Ipomea, compared to those, in the leaves.

INTRODUCTION

Long term waste water irrigation may lead to the accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils and plants. Food safety issues and potential health risks make this as one of the most serious environmental concerns (Cui et al., 2004). Vegetables accumulate heavy metals in their edible and non edible parts. Although some of the heavy metals such as Zn, Mn, Ni and Cu act as micro-nutrients at lower concentrations, they become toxic at higher concentrations. Health risk due to heavy metal contamination of soil has been widely reported (Eriyamremu et al. 2005; Muchuweti et al. 2006). Crops and vegetables grown in soils contaminated with heavy metals have greater accumulation of heavy metals than those grown in uncontaminated soil (Sharma et al. 2006, 2007).Elevated concentrations of heavy metals in soil may cause phytotoxicity, direct hazard to human health, indirect effects due to transmission through the food chain or contamination of ground or surfacewaters (Clijsters et al., 1999; Cuypers et al., 1999; Berglund et al., 2002; Quartacci et al., 2003). Heavy metals cannot be degraded or destroyed, but it is possible to alter their chemical form and change their solubility in water and hence availability to plants (Pulford et al., 2002; Nakova, 2002).Andisols is volcanic soils which has a very high specific surface so very high absorptive properties for organic matter, ions, particles and water. Andisols had been used to adsorbed or exchanged heavy metals by previous researchers.

The term “wastewater” properly means any water that is no longer wanted, as no further benefits can be derived out of it. About 99 percent of wastewater is water, and only one percent is solid wastes. Reuse is frequently practiced as a method of water resources management. Avoidance of environmental problems arising due to discharge of treated/untreated wastewater to the environment is another factor that encourages reuse. While the nutrients in wastewater can assist plant growth when reused for irrigation, their disposal, in extreme cases, is detrimental to ecosystems of the receiving environment. In addition, there may be concerns about the levels of other toxic pollutants in wastewater, such as heavy metals. The availability of heavy metals to plants, their uptake and their accumulation depend on a number of soil, plant and other factors. The soil factors include, soil pH, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, moisture, temperature and evaporation (Mapanda et al., 2005). Major plant factors are the species and variety, plant parts used for consumption, plant age and seasonal effects. Various aquatic floras have been identified as organisms capable of sorbing toxic and heavy metals from wastewaters. One of the aquatic plants capable of removing heavy metals is water spinach (Ipomea aquatica). Mangaanis an essential micronutrient element, which plays a significant metabolic role, but in high doses it can be toxic for the plants. Andisols is soil that has high capacity to absorb and adsorb pollutants in domestic waste water. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of treated domestic waste water application on the plant growth, nutrient and Mn concentrations of water spinach grown in Andisols. In addition, the effect of added treated waste water was compared to that of manure and untreated waste water.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Domestic wastewater is pumped to the top of building using solar cell energy. Two units of slow-sand filter which is installed on the top of building are operated to filtering the wastewater. This slow-sand filter has only physically filter the wastewater. Andisols which is rich in colloid then filtering the pollutants especially Mn from the wastewater by adsorbing, exchanging and also filtering. The treated wastewater thus is used to irrigate the vegetable (Ipomea/water spinach). The water quality parameters has been analyzed including pH, TDS, DHL, COD, BOD, Fe, and Mn. The research was used Completely Randomized Design with two factor. The first factor was irrigated by water from domestic wastewater which was filtered by andisol and non filtered wastewater irrigated. The second factor was the poultry manure doses application: 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% of the soil weight. In order to maintain the moisture content of the soil at approximately field capacity throughout the duration of the experiment, water was added daily. Ipomea was planted till 2 month. At physiological maturity, Ipomea was harvesting.Then, leaves and roots were prepared to plant analysis according to Joneset al. (1991). The measurement of the Mn concentrations in the leaves and roots were performed by atomic absorption spectrometry method. The obtained data were processed by the statistics software Statgraph. The influence of the treated and untreated wastewater and doses of poultry manure was measured, using two factorial analyses of variance with interactions.The testing of the presence of significant differences between the two average values in both cases was determined by the Duncan's test for the level of significance at 95%.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Wastewater treatment quality

Table 1 showed the mean quality of wastewater after treatment. The water pH was good enough, about 7,5 – 7,7. The wastewater recycling installation increasing wastewater quality through slow sand filter. Slow sand filter significantly decreased total density (tds), Carbon Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Fe, and also Mn. Table 1 showed data of wastewater before and after treatments.

According to guideline for safe limits of heavy metals in soil, plants, and water (FAO, 2007), the Mn in wastewater wasseveral fold higherbut after treated by slow- sand filter followed by Andisol, the Mn concentration was drastically decreased. The Fe concentration, COD and suspended solid also decreased.

Water spinach (Ipomea) growth

There were significant differences in plants height among the treatments. The lower plants height found in treated waste water without manure application, while the highest plants height due to untreated wastewater with manure application. Treated waste water by slow-sand filter followed by Andosol filtered not only reduced the heavy metals but alsodecreased the organic matter and nutrients content of the water, so without manure the growth of water spinach became worst (Table.2.).

Significant differences were detected between average fresh and dry leaves of Ipomeas as influenced by pultry manure application and treated waste water. The lowest fresh and dry weight leaves were found on untreated waste water without manure treatment, while the highest were found on untreated wastewater with 20 % poultry manure application. The untreated waste water was still rich of nutrients and addition poultry manure enhanced the Ipomea growth. The highest dose application resulted in the highest leaves weight (Table 3.).

For root dry weight partitioning variables, only fresh roots weght showed significant differences for Ipomea. This was not the case for dry roots weight. The lowest fresh and dry roots weight was detected on treated wastewater without manure treatment, while the highest fresh and dry roots weight was found on untreated wastewater with 20% poultry manure application treatment (Table 4.).

Mn concentration in soil and soil pH

Significant differences were detected between Mn concentration in soil and soil pH after treatments (Table 5.). The lowest Mn concentration in soil was found on treated wastewater with 15 % manure application, while the highest Mn concentration in soil was detected on untreated wastewater

The total concentrations of heavy metals in the soils from which vegetables were sampled were below the maximum permissible limits (MAFF, 1993). Soil pH (in water) was higher in untreated waste water (6.4-6.9) than in treated waste water (6.1-6.8), while the concentrations of all heavy metals tested were lower at the treated waste water than at the treated waste water.The increasing dose manure application did not give significant differences to Mn concentration in soil till 10% weight application, but increasing dose manure application till 20 % drastically decreased Mn concentration in soil significantly. The decreasing Mn concentration in soil followed by the increasing soil pH (Table 5.)

Mn Concentration in leaves and roots

There were significant differences for roots Mn concentrations at defferent treatments. However, no significant differences were detected between Mn leaves concentration of water spinach among the treatments (Table 6.)

Concentrations of Mn in plant tissues (dry weight) averaged 37.7 -172.73 mg kg-1on roots and 108.46- 189.21 mg kg-1 on leaves. No significant differences (P >0.05) in Mn concentration were found between the leaves, while all samples’ Mn concentrations were below the permissible limit of 200 mg kg-1 dry wt. (Food Standards Committee, 1950). According to Joneset al., (1991), critical concentrations of Mn in leaves ranges from 20 to 100 ppm for most plants. High levels of Mn can be toxic to plants. Concentrations of Mn on the order of 500 to 800 ppm can result in toxicity in many crops (Landon, 1984). From data table 6, the plant tissue analyses data showed that all water spinach which were irrigated by untreated and treated wastewater tended have high level Mn on leaves and roots, but still below the levels which can be toxic to plants. The data also showed that treated waste water still gave result in high Mn concentration in plants.

In fact, the main problem for utilizing waste water in plantations is existence of the heavy metals, because these materials are accumulate in soil and absorbed in plant organs. High concentration of heavy metals affects mobilization and balanced distribution of the fundamental elements in plant organs via the competitive uptake (Schat and Ten Bookum, 1992). Thus, if waste water is to be recycled for irrigation the problems associated with using it need to be known (Emongor and Ramolemana, 2004).

In this research, Andisol can reduce Mn concentration in wastewater, but when the capacity of the soil to retain heavy metals is reduced due to repeated use of waste water, soil can release heavy metals into ground water or soil solution available for plant uptake (Sharma et al., 2007 cit. Tabari et al., 2008).Leafy vegetables have greater potential of accumulating heavy metals in their edible parts than grain or fruit crops. Studies on the uptake of heavy metals by plants have shown that heavy metals can be transported passively from roots to shoots through the xylem vessels (Kirkham, 1977; Krijger et al., 1999). In addition, plant organs such as fruit and seed that have low transpiration rates (e.g. fruits and seeds) did not accumulate heavy metals because the storage organs are largely phloem-loaded and heavy metals are generally poorly mobile in the phloem. Zheljazkov and Neilsen (1996) found that the concentrations of heavy metals in vegetables per unit dry matter generally follow the order: leaves >fresh fruits >seeds. Contamination of the human food chains by heavy metals is not directly affected by the plants’ total uptake, but rather by the concentration in those parts that are directly consumed (Bieleski and Launchli, 1983). Thus, in assessing exposure risks, heavy metal contents in roots of water spinach (Ipomea aquatica) are of less importance than those in the edible leaves. According to Alloway and Ayres (1993), sensitivity of organisms to heavy metal toxicity depends on heavy metal accumulation rate in plants, intake rate (in animals) and age of the consuming organism amongst other factors.

CONSLUSION

Treated wastewater by slow-sand followed by Andosol filtered reduced BOD, COD, suspended solid, Mn and Fe concentration in wastewater. Treated wastewater by slow-sand followed by Andisol filtered as water irrigation without manure application decreased plant height, fresh and dry weight biomass of water spinach.

Untreated wastewater with 20 % poultry manure application increased plant height, fresh and dry weight biomassa of water spinach.The lowest Mn concentration in soil was found on treated wastewater with 15 % manure application, while the highest Mn concentration in soil was detected on untreated wastewater.

Increasing dose manure application did not give significant differences on Mn concentration in soil till 10% weight application, but increasing dose manure application till 20 % drastically decreased Mn concentration in soil significantly. Water spinach which were irrigated by untreated and treated waste water tended have high level Mn on leaves and roots, but still below the levels which can be toxic to plants.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.

Thanks to Ministry of National Education, Republic Indonesia (Directorate of Research and Service for the Community) for financial support.

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