Treated and untreated wastewater imparts morphological changes to scented rosa species in Peri-Urban area

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of treated and untreated waste water on morphological characteristics of four widely cultivated fragrant Rosa species of Pakistan during 2012-2013. Experiment was designed according to randomized complete block design with two factor factorial arrangement. One treatment factor was Rosa species and other was irrigation source. All minerals and chemicals present in canal water and treated waste water were in permissible level, whereas untreated waste water contained higher values of EC, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and heavy metals like Cd, Co, Cu, Pb. Results showed that maximum plant height and number of leaves per branch was recorded in R. bourboniana and R. damascena respectively under treated waste water and minimum height was found in R. centifolia under untreated waste water whereas highest leaf area was recorded in R. damascena under canal water and treated waste water during 1st and 2nd year of experiment respectively. R. Gruss-an-Teplitz was dominant species for floral characteristics like minimum days to flower emergence, flower diameter, number of flowers plant-1 and number of petals flower-1 under treated waste water whereas thickest flower bud was recorded under untreated waste water. Due to high load of contaminants, untreated waste water was responsible to produced minimum flower numbers in all species. In present study, R. Gruss-an-Teplitz was found to be most resistant and suitable rose species to cultivate in peri-urban areas under treated and untreated waste water and it is strongly recommended that untreated waste water must be treated to some extent before application to roses.