Phytoremediation rates of morning glory (Ipomea asarifolia) in an aquaculture effluent hydroponic system

Abstract

Most fish farmers dispose of aquaculture effluent indiscriminately and this adversely affect the environment. On the other hand, conventional wastewater treatment plants are costly to install and run. This research studies morning glory phytoremediation in a hydroponic aquaculture effluent for possible use as a cheaper alternative to wastewater treatment. Four replicates containing about 100 g of morning glory in each hydroponic unit were studied at 7 days interval. Measured pre and post treatment parameters include: pH, electrical conductivity (EC), complete suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS). Ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+ -N), nitrite-nitrogen (NO2- -N), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3- -N), phosphorus (PO43- -P) and biomass were also evaluated. Results showed that the percentage reduction in pH ranged from 1.9% to 11.6%, EC from 49.8% to 92.4%, TSS from 34.0% to 73.3%, TDS from 50.4% to 94.3%, NH4+ -N from 38.9% to 85.2%, NO2- -N from 0% to 76.6%, NO3- -N from 63.2% to 90.4% and PO43- -P from 10.0% to 52.5%. The recorded biomass was 417.0 g, 567.0 g, 642.0 g, 679.5 g. A paired sample t-test demonstrates that at a confidence level of 95 percent it can be statistically concluded that there was significant inequality between pre-and post-treatment values. This implies potency of this plant and can be useful in the treatment of aquaculture effluent.