Tuesday 25 February 2014

Anaerobic effluent fertliser in maize (#journal)

The effect of irrigation with anaerobic baffled reactor effluent on nutrient availability, soil properties and maize growth

A glasshouse study was carried out to assess the availability to maize of nutrients from anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) effluent. Maize was grown for 6 weeks in pots with three contrasting soils namely a sandy soil, an organic acidic soil  and a clayey soil. Fertilizer (N, P and K) was applied at the recommended rate, half the recommended rate and zero fertilizer for each of the soils used. Plants were irrigated with either effluent or tap water. Dry matter yields and nutrient concentrations for effluent-irrigated maize were significantly higher than for all water-irrigated plants. The unfertilized, effluent-irrigated plants were not significantly different in above-ground nutrient concentrations from the water-irrigated plants at half fertilization. Plants grown on the clay soil irrigated with effluent and fully fertilized had the highest above-ground dry matter yield and accumulated more N, P, K, Ca and Mg than all other treatments.

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