Comparison of Water Use Efficiency in Alfalfa Using Water and Waste Water

Abstract

Growth of cultural and economic level of societies has caused conversion of villages to cities and establishment of wastewater treatment plant in cities. Wastewater treatment plants discharge significant amounts of wastewater into natural waterways and their output at the most critical time (the hottest day that crop water need reaches to maximum due to physiological conditions) reaches to the highest amount. Hence, with regard to permanent and accessible wastewater and study on performance and production of forage per water or wastewater consumption unit, the research project was performed in form of statistical plan of totally random blocks with four treatments in three replications during three years. The results indicate that function of forage at the third year of project implementation has increased than the first and second years. Treatments 2 and 4 (the treatments to use wastewater) had greater function than treatments 1 and 3 (treatments that have irrigated with well water), found with significant difference. In average, function of forage (dry and wet) in treatments irrigated with wastewater than the treatments irrigated with well water has been greater to 37 and 32 percent regardless of consumption amount. Water consumption efficiency in the treatments to use wells water and wastewater equals to 0.867 and 1.09 kg production of dry hay per cubic meter of water or wastewater.