HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Day, A. D. Articles by Cluff, C. B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Day, A. D. Articles by Cluff, C. B. Agricola Articles by Day, A. D. Articles by Cluff, C. B.

Commercial Production of Wheat Grain Irrigated with Municipal Waste Water and Pump Water¹

ABSTRACT

Experiments were conducted in southern Arizona to study the effects of irrigating wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with a mixture of pump water and waste water and with pump water alone on wheat growth, grain yield, grain quality, soil properties, and irrigation water quality.

In small plot research, wheat irrigated with the pump water-waste water mixture produced taller plants, more heads per unit area, heavier seeds, higher grain yields, and higher straw yields than did wheat grown with only pump water. When large fields were compared, wheat grown with the pump water-waste water mixture had taller plants, more lodging, lower grain volume-weights, and higher grain yields than did wheat produced with pump water.

The pH and exchangeable sodium of soil irrigated with pump water alone or the pump water-waste water mixture were similar. Soluble salts and nitrate-nitrogen were higher in soils irrigated with pump water than they were in soils irrigated with the pump water-waste water mixture. Extractable phosphorus was higher in soils irrigated with the pump water-waste water mixture than in soils irrigated with pump water.

Total soluble salts and nitrate-nitrogen were higher in pump water than they were in the pump water-waste water mixture; however, the pump water-waste water mixture had higher levels of total nitrogen and phosphorus than did pump water. The higher grain yields obtained when wheat was irrigated with the pump water-waste water mixture than were produced when wheat was grown with pump water alone probably resulted from lower concentrations of soluble salts in the pump water-waste water mixture than were present in pump water.

Key Words: cereal grains • irrigation water • soil • sewage • waste • pollution

¹ Contribution from the Arizona Agric. Exp. Stn., Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721. Approved for publication as Arizona Agric. Exp. Stn. Res. Contribution no. 2905. The research reported in this paper was supported by funds provided by the U.S. Dep. of Interior, Off. of Water Res. and Technol., as authorized under the Water Resources Act of 1964 and by the State of Arizona.

² Agronomist and Graduate Assistant, Dep. of Plant Sciences; Soil Scientist, Dep. of Soils, Water, and Engineering; and Hydrologist, Water Resour. Res. Center; Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, respectively.

Received for publication September 6, 1978.