Changes in Growth and Some Biochemical Parameters of Maize Plants Irrigated with Sewage Water

Research Article

Austin J Plant Biol. 2015;1(1): 1004.

Changes in Growth and Some Biochemical Parameters of Maize Plants Irrigated with Sewage Water

Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef* and Mohammad Mostafa Sallam

Department of Botany, South Valley University, Egypt

*Corresponding author: Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef, Department of Botany, South Valley University, 83523 Qena, Egypt

Received: February 09, 2015; Accepted: March 04, 2014; Published: March 09, 2015

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of sewage water irrigation on the growth, photosynthetic pigments, sugars, proteins, total free amino acids, proline and the activity of antioxidant enzymes of maize plants. Results indicated that sewage-irrigated plants in most cases showed a significant increase in growth and all biochemical parameters than the control plants. This increase was generally higher in shoot than root. This study provides evidence for a beneficial effect of sewage water application for maize plants.

Keywords: Antioxidant enzymes; Growth; Maize; Photosynthetic pigments; Proteins; Sewage water; Sugars

Introduction

The wastewater is defined as all water used at homes that goes down the drains or into the wastewater collection system. The use of urban wastewater in agriculture is widely established practice for alleviating water scarcity situations, or even eliminating the purchase of chemical fertilizers. However, unregulated irrigation with untreated wastewater poses serious public health risks through the introduction of metal ions and their accumulation in bio-systems with continuous application to soils [1,2]. These metals could have toxic impact on biological systems if present beyond their respective safe limits in soils, waters and/or plants [3].

Al-Jaloud et al. [4] found that crop yield showed significant increase with increasing water salinity in the wastewater. Their results showed that wastewater can be successfully used to grow maize and sorghum as forage crops. Gadallah [5] reported that sunflower plants treated with sewage wastewater had higher soluble sugars, hydrolysable carbohydrates and soluble protein levels than the control plants (irrigated with tap water), while changes in amino acids content was variable.

Reuse after proper treatment is normally recommended as the main solution of preventing health risks. Unfortunately, because of the high cost of engineering plants, most cities in the developing countries do not have sufficient wastewater treatment capacity.

El-Salhya sewage station was constructed in Qena city, Egypt in 1970. The capacity of this station is 12000m3. Usually, it receives a huge amount of sewage water. The station is unable to filter the impurities of this huge amount of the sewage water efficiently. There is a farm belongs to this station that has an area of 1000 acres of sandy soil. This area is suitable for planting without any reclamation. 20 acres are planted with Eucalyptus and 280 acres with wooden trees. About 700 acres are not planted. There are no heavy industries in Qena city. So the sewage water contains a low or limited concentration of heavy metals.

The aim of the present work was to study the effect of sewage water irrigation on the growth, photosynthetic pigments, sugars, proteins, total free amino acids, proline and antioxidant enzymes activity of maize plants.

Materials and Methods

Experimental material and plant growth

Maize (Zea mays L.) seeds were surface-disinfected by submersing in 1.5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 1-2 min; they were then washed 3 times in sterile distilled water and dried on sterile filter paper in a laminar air flow cabinet. Five seeds were sown in plastic pots containing two kg of air-dried sandy soil. The pots were irrigated regularly with tap water for 7 days then the pots were divided into two groups. The first group was irrigated with tap water as control and the second group was irrigated with raw sewage water collected from El-Salhya sewage station, Qena city, Egypt. The chemical analysis of the sewage water (Table 1) used in irrigation was measured by the method described by Jackson [6]. The treatments were arranged in a complete randomized design with 4 pots for each treatment. After 50 days of irrigation with sewage water, the plants were harvested.