Improving industrial wastewater irrigation: the effects on Indian baby pumpkin (Praecitrullus fistulous) cultivation

Abstract

AbstractIncreasing insufficiency of freshwater resources is driving many countries in arid and semi-arid regions to use low-quality water for agriculture and related activities. This wastewater may have some useful as well adverse effects on various parameters. In this regard, we design an experimental setup to investigate the impact of irrigation with industrial wastewater on the Praecitrullus fistulosus (Indian baby pumpkin) plant. For this purpose, Praecitrullus fistulous was cultivated in soil irrigated with different concentrations (i.e. 25, 50, 75, 100%) of industrial wastewater, while control contain 0% of wastewater. Before the treatment, physicochemical parameters (pH, TDS, EC, etc.) of industrial wastewater were analysed. It was observed that lower concentration/s of wastewater positively affects various morphological (no. of leaves, fruits etc.) and biochemical (Total protein, Flavonoids, Sugar/s content etc.) attributes in treated plants, whereas elevated concentration may hurt these parameters.