EFFECT OF THERMAL POWER PLANT WASTEWATER AND COAL FLY ASH ON ROOT NODULATION, GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF CICER ARIETINUM L. ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bettor of $I)ilogopl)p IN BOTANY IRFAN AHMAD ^^ DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2004 '•*' J-™.*^*^ EFFECT OF THERMAL POWER PLANT WASTEWATER AND COAL FLY ASH ON ROOT NODULATION, GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF CICER ARIETINUM L. Irfan Ahmad Abstract of the thesis submitted to Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Botany, 2004. Five pot experiments were carried out based on factorial randomized block design during the rabi seasons of 1999-2002 with the aim to study the utility of thermal power plant wastewater (TPPW) and fly ash (FA) along with nitrogen and phosphorus doses on two cultivars of chickpea. The data was mostly significant. Various parameters of soil, fly ash and water were also analysed for physico-chemical properties. Experiments I and II were performed together during the rabi season of 1999-2000, to study the comparative effect of TPPW and GW and four levels of fly ash (FAQ, FAio, FA20, FA40) on the basis of growth, yield and quality parameters of chickpea cultivars BG-256 and Avarodhi. TPPW proved beneficial except for seed protein content which remained unaffected. Among the various levels of fly ash, FAio proved optimum in comparison to FA20 and FA40. The data was also pooled to compare the two cultivars and it was BG-256 which performed better than Avarodhi. Experiments III and IV were also conducted simultaneously in the year 2000-2001 on the same cultivars. TPPW again proved better for most of the parameters studied including NRA, nodulation and seed yield confirming the findings of the first two experiments. However, it may be noted that in these two trials based on nitrogen doses, protein content was enhanced due to the waste water application. Treatment Nio proved optimum, whereas N20 was at luxury consumption and N30 was toxic. The data of the two experiments was also pooled and it was again BG-256 which performed better than Avarodhi. Experiment V was conducted during the rabi season of 2001-2002 under five levels of phosphorus (Po, Pio, P20, P30, P40) supplemented with a uniform starter dose of 10 kg ha"' fly ash, 10 kg N ha'' and 20 kg K ha"' on cultivar BG-256. TPPW proved effective and P30 proved the optimum dose for most of the parameters including NRA, nodulation, seed yield and protein content, while P40 was excessive and Pio, P20 were deficient. Nodulation and protein content increased with increasing levels of phosphorus. EFFECT OF THERMAL POWER PLANT WASTEWATER AND COAL FLY ASH ON ROOT NODULATION, GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF CICER ARIETINUM L. ^^ THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of pi)tlogopt)p IN BOTANY , \ t...< IRFAN AHMAD DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) *** 2004 „,'S*ri'.>. 16919 'dedicated (To (iJVly Barents Ariflnam Department of Botany M.Sc, Ph.D. Aligarh Muslim University Professor Aligarh - 202002. [email protected] Dated: l-o • \i^- c^ 1 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled "Effect of Thermal Power Plant Wastewater and Coal Fly Ash on Root Nodulation, Growth, Yield and Quality of Cicer arietinum L." submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Botany is a faithful record of the bonafide research work carried out at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh by Mr. Irfan Ahmad under my guidance and supervision and that no part of it has been submitted for any other degree or diploma. Supervisor of re'sCarch ACKNOWLEDGEAIENT I mth use of this pmious ojiporijiinitj to CXJJKSS my hctirtfdt ^mtituk and slnccrcst thmh to my Icumei teacher aid sufiervisor Professor Arif mam for his aUe ^ikiia, mtho]d which this work would not have materialised. I owe sincere thanks to the Head of the vhint vhysiolo^ Division, Dej)artment of 'Botany, Ali^arh Muslim university, Ali^rh and EX-chalrman Professor samiulkh for j^roviMn/j necessary Infrastmcture, facilities during the tenure of my research work, i owe a sense of^atitnk to Professor M.M.R.K. Af'idifor his adviu, encouragement and heljifd criticism during this investigation. I am eXtrmdy thankful to Professor ishrat Husain Khan, chairman, Deyar\ment of 'Botany, Ali^arh Muslim university, Ali^arh for the encouragement and helji that he rendered at almost every stejf during ike course of my research work. I eitend my thanks and dcejf sense of gratitude to my learned teachers Professor A. Ahmad, Dr. F. Mohammad, Dr. N.A. Khan, Dr. M.M.A. Khan, Dej)artment of 'Botany, Ali^arh Muslim university, Ali^arhfor their constant helj) and^idaue. \nfad, tkey had ken a constant source of inspiration and encouragement for me. m this hectic world we live in, we very rarely take time to comjilement yeoyle for a jol well done. But I really want to say a special thanh to my seniors Dr. s. Hay at. Dr. M. Mokn, Dr. A. Hussain, Dr. Q^Fariduddin, Dr. Z.M. Azam, Dr. R. Mir, Dr. s. ]avi^. Dr. F.A. sheMi, Dr. A. Afelit/ir, Ms. s. Alvi as they cause hayfmess wherever they^o, hit others whenever they^o. I am highly thankfd to my coka^es shahk, Manzer, Pervez, Faisal, Kashif Naeem, Sarljeet, Azam, saha and Dilshada as they have provided me with the fill strength of their help and support. Coha^es are not just friends hut more than that, "when nights are long and friends are few, l sit alone and think of you with a lovely heart and silent tears all I wish is you to k here kcmse you are the full support which none can provide, they provide happiness like a hllle hath." 1 am also extremely thani^l to my friends shiv, Afeel, Preeti and Ahidfor their constant support as they are like the pillars on our porch. Sometimes they hold us up and smdimcs tfiey kdn on us. somdimcs its just enough to ho\i that thj arc stmdln^ hj. Without tkm i couU not think ofmj research worfe to le comjileted in time. I especidly wish to thmk to mj friend shouht 'Bhai who hdsjioured immense low on me and have ken a source of sujfjiort md encouragement during the course of my research worii. He is just like the mirrors of the hleidoscojie who will always shine in the hottom of my heart and don't let others know, if the day comes when ifly, and^o uji in the sky, as I am so far, I'll write your name on every star, so you look uy and see, how much you really mean to me. I am highly fateful to my yarents and all family memkrs especially my elder hrother. Jawed hhai, for jfrovidin^ me indispensable support and continuous encouragement showered with lots of love and prayers. I am also thanl^l to the staff menders mzish Ihai, Masood Ihai, Kehana apa, javed Ihai, shahid Wai, shakir hhai and Hayat hhai for constant help, i want to commend on having as a staff of very competent, efficient and courteous employees. Moreover, I am abo eitremely thankful to the gardeners who provided ^ood help to me. I am also ^ratefd to Mis Ihai for extending his adept services on computer for typing the nwiuscript. With all faith in the almighty i place this work in the hands of my eUminer with the hope that he will kar with the shortcoming that mi^ht have crept into this thesis inadvertently. (irfan Ahmad} CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 37 RESULTS 58 DISCUSSION 103 SUMMARY 118 BIBLIOGRAPHY 120 APPENDIX i introduction Chapter-1 INTRODUCTION Water and plant nutrients, among others inputs, are the two most important factors for normal growth of any crop. The former, being the most abundant molecular species in plants, is also a carrier of nutrients. By definition, a nutrient is that which nourishes and out of which the substances of plants are synthesized. In this cense, therefore, water also performs a nutritional role. It is noteworthy that covering about 1404 million cubic kilometers its quantity on earth, is enormous. However, 97.6% of it is in the oceans and unsuitable for irrigation due to its high salt content, while about 2.0% is tied up in glaciers, ice caps and snow fields. Thus, only about 0.4% fresh water is available for plants, animals and human beings (Cunningham and Saigo, 1995). Since India is a monsoon-dependent land and the bulk of rainfall is confined to a brief period only, a large part of the country remains deficient in water supply for a greater part of the year. The situation here, like some other countries (China, Kenya, Nigeria), is much worse than that of the more fortunate ones. Our per capita renewable fresh water supply in 1999, for instance, was less than 2,000 m^ annum'' which was far less than that of Canada and the USA and even Australia, Brazil and Malaysia (Anonymous, 2001). This is because fresh water resources worldwide are unequally distributed. For example, Asia with 60% of the world population has only 36% of river runoff whereas. South America, with just 6% of the population, enjoys about 26% runoff Similarly, whereas about 60% of the available water consumed each year worldwide is diverted for irrigation, for Asia, which has about two third of the wodd's irrigated land, the figure is as high as 85%o due to unscientific irrigation.