Abstract
Distillery effluents, a major by-product of distilleries are a major environmental hazard as they are rich in organic matter, micro- and macroelements. Management of this enormous amount of nutrient-rich effluent and its effective utilization is a major challenge. These effluents can be used as a source of nutrient by C4 crops like sugarcane and subsequent ratoon crops under fertigation system. Impact of fertigation in sugarcane-ratoon cropping system on soil microbial biomass is important as the microbial population plays an important role in the nutrient and biogeochemical recycling. Keeping this in mind, a field experiment was carried out in the sandy loam soil of semi-arid to humid sub-tropical climate of Gajraula (28.85°N, 78.23°E) region, India with different doses of diluted and undiluted effluent for fertigation of sugarcane crop in presence and absence of 50 % recommended dose of fertilizers with suitable replicates. Two post-sown irrigations with four times diluted effluent gave the maximum yield in case of sugarcane crop. Taking into consideration the yield and the culturable microbial population sizes, it can be concluded that one to two post-sown irrigations with diluted effluent can be used to enhance soil fertility in terms of microbial population and to enhance sugarcane and ratoon crop productivity. This package is economically viable and can also take care of distillery waste management and reduction in consumption of chemical fertilizers by 50 %, a key for sustainable agricultural development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anonymous, American Public Health Association (APHA). (2005). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater (21st ed.). Washington, DC: American Public Health Association.
Boyden, B. H., & Rababah, A. A. (1996). Recycling nutrients from municipal wastewater. Desalination Journal, 106, 241–246. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2013.12.026.
Butler, R., & MacCornick, T. (1996). Opportunities for decentralized treatment, sewer mining and effluent re-use. Desalination Journal, 106, 273–283. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2013.12.026.
Chauhan, J. S., & Rai, J. P. N. (2012). Reuse of distillery wastewater with designed dose and pattern for sugarcane irrigation. Clean- Soil Air and Water, 40(8), 838–843.
Chhaya, V., & Kumar, R. (2014). Utilization of distillery wastewater in fertigation: A beneficial use. International Journal of Research in Chemistry and Environment, 4(4), 1–9.
Chopra, A. K., Srivastava, S., Kumar, V., & Pathak, C. (2012). Agro-potentiality of distillery effluent on soil and agronomical characteristics of Abelmoschus esculentus L. (okra). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 185, 6635–6645. doi:10.1007/s10661-012-3052-8.
Deshpande, A. N., Kamble, B. M., Shinde, R. B., & Gore, S. B. (2012). Effect of primary treated biomethanated spentwash on soil properties and yield of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) on sodic soil. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 43(4), 730–743. doi:10.1080/00103624.2012.644011.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Statistical Database (2014). Accessed November 3, 2014, www.fao.org/statistics/en/
Hati, K. M., Biswas, A. K., Bandyopadhyay, K. K., & Misra, A. K. (2007). Soil properties and crop yields on a vertisol in India with application of distillery effluent. Soil & Tillage Research, 92, 60–68. doi:10.1016/j.still.2006.01.011.
Martin, J. P. (1950). Use of acid, rose bengal and streptomycin in the plate method for estimating soil fungi. Soil Science, 69(3), 215–232.
Morlat, R., & Chaussod, R. (2008). Long-term additions of organic amendments in a Loire Valley vineyard I. Effects on properties of a calcareous sandy soil. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 59, 353–363.
Page, A. L., Miller, R. H., & Keeney, D. R. (1982). Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. Methods of Soil Analysis, Part, 2, 539–579.
Rajkishore, S. K., & Vignesh, N. S. (2012). Distillery spentwash in the context of crop production: A review. The Bioscan, 7(3), 369–375.
Rath, P., Pradhan, G., & Misra, M. K. (2012). Effect of distillery spent wash (dsw) and fertilizer on growth and chlorophyll content of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) plant. Recent Research in Science and Technology, 3(4), 169–176.
Saliha, B., Kishnakumar, S., Saravanan, A., & Natarajan, S. K. (2005). Microbial and enzyme dynamics in distillery spentwash treated soil. Research Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, 1(2), 166–169.
Srivastava, P. C., Singh, R. K., Srivastava, P., & Shrivastava, M. (2012). Utilization of molasses based distillery effluent for fertigation of sugarcane. Biodegradation, 23, 897–905. doi:10.1007/s10532-012-9582-5.
Suganya, K., & Rajanan, G. (2009). Effect of one time post-sown and pre-sown application of distillery spentwash on the growth and yield of maize crop. Botany Research International, 2(4), 288–294.
Thawale, P. R., Yadav, S. K., Wanjari, T., Singh, S., Juwarkar, A., & Kumar, R. (2011). Monitoring colour and COD removal capacity of soil and assessment of growth performance of crop grown with pulp and paper mill waste water: A lysimeter study. International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 3(2), 146–163.
Acknowledgments
Assistance received from M/s Jubilant Organosys Limited, Gajraula, Uttar Pradesh, India, for providing material support to conduct this study is duly acknowledged.
Conflict of interest
The author has declared no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, R. Microbial population dynamics under fertigation by distillery effluent in sugarcane-ratoon cropping system. Environ Dev Sustain 18, 187–196 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9633-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9633-2