Sodium phytoremediation by green manure growing in soil irrigated with wastewater of dairy industry

Abstract

Phytoremediation is a technique that uses plants to decontaminate soils containing harmful organic and inorganic elements. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of three species of forage green manure in phytoremediation of saline soil irrigated with treated effluent from dairy processing plant. The design used was randomized blocks (3x3) with four replicates. The treatments were three different water sources (anaerobic treated effluent, aerobic treated effluent, and tap water) applied to growing table beets combined with the post-cultivation of three forage green manure: Calopogonium mucunoides Desv (Calopo), Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp (Pigeon pea), and Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Brown (Millet). The treatment with Millet had higher dry mass production with all water sources, although showing growth reduction after irrigation with anaerobic treated effluent. Millet presented higher sodium extraction efficiency (22.4 kg ha-1); however, it was not effective in soil phytoremediation because the exchangeable sodium percentage was not reduced to levels that allowed for new effluent input.