Affiliation:
1. 1 School of Core Engineering, Shoolini University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh 173229, India
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Utilizing wastewater for irrigating ornamental plants not only conserves freshwater resources but also enhances sustainability by recycling nutrients and reducing environmental impact. This paper describes the results of experimental activities carried out to verify the possibility of reusing treated institutional wastewater for irrigating three container-grown ornamental plants: Sweet William, Annual Phlox, and Rainbow Pink. The experiment was conducted in a subtropical highland climate by using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The plants were irrigated with borewell water (T1), hybrid sewage (T2), secondary treated wastewater (TW) (T3), tertiary-treated wastewater (T4), and ozone-treated wastewater (T5). Each irrigation treatment was subjected to physical, chemical, and biological analysis to determine water quality parameters. The growth of ornamental plants in each treatment was monitored in terms of height, leaves, and quality of flowers. The data were statistically analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The quality parameters of different irrigation water sources varied significantly (p < 0.05) across the treatments, indicating effective treatment of institutional wastewater. ANOVA analysis revealed significant differences in plant height across irrigation treatments for Sweet William and Annual Phlox, but not for Rainbow Pink. Overall, treatments T4 and T5 resulted in the best growth of the considered ornamental plants.