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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