Impacts of Treated Wastewater Reuse on Some Soil Properties and Production of Gladiolus communis

Abstract

Two experiments, one in an open field (OF) and another inside the greenhouse (GH), were conducted at the University of Jordan-collage of agriculture experimental station, to study the effect of Treated Wastewater (TWW) on some soil chemical and physical properties and the spike quality of Gladiolus. Five water treatments were used, T1: 100% Household water (HW); T2: 100%TWW; T3:25% HW+75% TWW; T4:50%HW+50%TWW; andT5:75%HW+25%TWW. The results showed high salts accumulation in soils under all treatments with the highest accumulation values in soil T2. Soil organic matter (OM) and N decreased after planting for all treatments under the green house conditions. There was an increase in Zn, Pb, and Cu microelements in soils for all treatments. Soil physical properties such as aggregate stability were decreased by about 40% for all treatments after planting for the GH treatments. Plant properties were affected by TWW irrigation. Parameters such as: spike length, spike diameter, corm size, number of florets per spike, and the number of cormels per corm were found to be affected by TWW irrigation. It gave the worst quality for plants that was irrigated with 100% TWW. Based on results obtained, it was found that soils were affected negatively by TWW irrigation.