MEHDI EBRAHIMI, DAVARKHAH RABBANI, MOHAMMAD BAGHER-MIRANZADEH, ASHRAF- MAZAHERI TEHRANI, SAFIYE GHOBAKHLOO, BHAGYASHREE KESHERWANI, NEZAM MIRZAEI, MORTEZA JAFARSALEHI AND GHOLAMREZA MOSTAFAII
Abstract
Generally, kitchen-sink grey water (KW) is suitable for cost-effective treatment by anaerobic baffled reactors (ABRs) due to an unbalanced COD/nutrient ratio. ABRs provide irrigation water, particularly in water-scarce regions of Iran. One solution for the safe sewage irrigation is to dilute it. In this study, KW was diluted with distilled water to obtain control, D50 (50% KW), D75, and D100 for maximum germination rate and seedling growth in Petri dish treatment of wheat and lentil seeds. Some effluent parameters were investigated including pH (7.9-8.1), electrical conductivity (EC) (850-920 ìS/cm), chemical oxygen demand (35- 68 mg/l), suspended solid (8 26 mg/l), and turbidity (2.2-8 NTU). All of them met the local irrigation standard except for EC. Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 29. The irrigation of both seeds and comparison with different dilutions, showed that the worst germination was obtained from D100. The germination percentage of wheat and lentil at D50 and D75 was >80%. The highest mean seedling length (11.71 cm) for wheat irrigation was obtained at D50 followed by D75 (9.10 cm). While, the highest value for lentil seedling length were 9.74 (D50) and 13.86 (D75) cm. The lentil seedling vigor index (SVI) using D75 provided the most effective irrigation water (approximately 2.5 times that of D100) requiring minimal dilution water. However, for wheat, D50 increased SVI by 79% more than D100. We conclude that KW can be harmful, but after proper dilution, it may allow it to provide potential fertilizer for the growth of wheat and lentil seedlings.