Effects of treated agro-industrial wastewater irrigation on tomato processing quality

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the qualitative and microbiological impact of two different sources of irrigation water on tomato fruit: groundwater (GW), as the control, and treated agro-industrial wastewater (SW). The mean tomato fruit quality parameters of dry matter, weight, diameter, colour index, pH, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, Ca2+ and Na+ content were not significantly affected by the different water treatments. Conversely, NO3– contents was significantly higher with GW use, than with SW (2.21 vs 1.62 mg 100 g–1, respectively; P≤0.05). The microbial quality of the tomato fruit was not significantly different across the GW and SW treatments, with no Salmonella spp. isolated from any of the fruit, and the faecal indicators always below 10 CFU g–1. These data show that agro-industrial treated wastewater can be used for irrigation for industrial tomato production once the long-term effects on the agro ecosystem have been defined.