Comparative Assessment of the Effect of Wastewater Sludge Biochar on Growth, Yield and Metal Bioaccumulation of Cherry Tomato

Mustafa K. Hossain, Vladimir Strezov*, Peter F. Nelson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

To investigate the potential effects of wastewater sludge and sludge biochar on growth, yield and metal bioaccumulation of cherry tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.), a pot experiment was carried out under greenhouse environment with three different treatments, control soil (CP), soil with wastewater sludge (SS) and soil with sludge biochar (SB), to reveal the comparative effect between the amendments of wastewater sludge and sludge biochar. The soil used for pot experiment was Chromosol. Wastewater sludge and sludge biochar produced through pyrolysis process at 550 °C were applied at 10 t ha-1. No significant difference was found in growth and production of cherry tomatoes between wastewater sludge and sludge biochar applications to the soil. The accumulation rates of metals in the fruits were lower in the treatment with sludge biochar than in the treatment with wastewater sludge. The study highlights the benefits of risk mitigation from toxic metal accumulation in fruits using wastewater sludge and sludge biochar as soil conditioners.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)680-685
Number of pages6
JournalPedosphere
Volume25
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2015

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