Dairy Waste Water Supplementation Of Barren Soil And Its Effect On Soil Nutrient Status And Growth Profile Of Green Leafy Vegetable Crop Of Trigonella Foenumgricum

Abstract

Production of dairy waste water is a continuous process, hence it can be substantially utilized for irrigation purpose. Moreover,  in addition to water itself, it also   serve as a rich source of organic nutrient substances such as lactose, protein,  lipids and vitamins and can be envisaged to help in improving the fertilizing ability of soil. Therefore, in the present investigation application of dairy waste water  to improve the nutrient status and physico-chemical characteristics barren soil was evaluated and its effect was  studied on the growth profile  and root nodulation parameters in leafy vegetable crop  Trigonella foenumgricum.  Pot culture experiments were conducted using dairy waste water collected from local  dairy industry and it was applied  to  the soil sample in variable concentrations (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) and  these supplemented soil samples in pots were used for  sowing seeds of Trigonella  foenumgricum. Results have shown that the growth of  Trigonella foenumgricum   as well as number of nodules formation  in the plant increased significantly  after addition of  waste water as compared to that found in barren soil without supplementation of dairy waste water (as control). The nutrient status of soil in terms of N, P and K levels   of barren soil also improved after its supplementation of dairy waste water. Present study has shown that as an alternative use of dairy waste water will not only prevents the waste from creating environment hazard but also will serve as a potential source of nutrients to the growing vegetable crop in non fertile soil if used rationally and at appropriate concentration.  This is because it was found that when excessive quantity of dairy waste water as such was added within a short time interval,  adversely affected soil physico-chemical properties, and nodulation process in the plant.