Effects of brewery, textile and paint effluent on seed germination of leafy vegetables-Amaranthus hybridus and Celosia argentea (Amaranthaceae)

Abstract

Effluent-laden water bodies have increasingly been used as sources of irrigation for arable crops to ensuring year round food production and sufficiency. Toxicity of living tissues may result from substances accumulated in the growth medium through the food chain. In order to assess the suitability or otherwise of some industrial wastewater for irrigation purposes, germination experiment was performed on seeds of Amananthus hybridus and Celosia argentea presoaked in 50 and 100% concentration of brewery, textile and paint effluent for 30 min to 3 h. Longer duration of seeds in presoaked medium (3 h) increased germination rate (0.92) and percentage (95%) of A. hybridus significantly (p<0.05) to optimum level in 50% diluted brewery effluent. Though, the effluent generated gradual increase in germination of C. argentea with increasing presoaking period, the maximum germination (25 and 35%) was below the control untreated seeds (45%). Fifty percent textile effluent favoured germination in A hybridus up to the control level (70%) at 2 h with higher rate (0.63). Germination decreased (45%) significantly (p<0.05) beyond 2 h. One hundred percent and 50% textile effluent significantly decreased (p<0.05) germination in A. hybridus (5-20%) and C. argentea (5-10%), respectively and totally toxic to C. argentea at 100%. The rate and percentage seed germination of A. hybridus and C. argentea decreased significantly (p<0.05) as the presoaking period increased in paint effluent becoming toxic beyond 1 and 1 1/2 h, respectively. Industrial effluent may be environmentally harmful if not properly treated or diluted. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.