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Effects of Municipal Waste Water Effluent on Performance and Feed Quality of Maize vs. Reed Canarygrass¹

ABSTRACT

No experimental comparisons have been reported of the yield of feed components of fodder maize (Zea mays L.) and of perennial grasses in production systems that use municipal waste water effluent. Our objective was to determine the feed quality and yields of maize fodder and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) when they were managed by conventional practices and when they received municipal waste water effluent during the growing seasons over a 4-year period.

Three soil treatments included a control (well water and mineral fertilizer) and two municipal waste water effluent levels (usually 5 or 10 cm/week), each applied to reed canarygrass and maize (2 x 3 factorial).

In all except the first year, maize fodder was more digestible ( of 74.4%) than reed canarygrass ( of 68.9%) subjected to any soil treatment. Reed canarygrass always contained much more crude protein ( of 17.5%) than did maize ( of 7.2%).

Maize fodder yielded from 17 to 36% more dry matter and from 23 to 41% more digestible dry matter per hectare than did reed canarygrass. These differences were progressively less as effluent application increased from 0 to 10 cm/week. Reed canarygrass yielded from 30 to 52% more crude protein per hectare than did maize. These differences were progressively greater as effluent application increased.

We conclude that perennial grasses have superior capacity compared to maize to remove N from soil treated with large amounts of waste water effluent. The grasses are also most likely to yield the most protein per hectare, but the least digestible dry matter, in effluent-treated systems. We documented that both reed canarygrass and maize can effectively renovate large amounts of waste water effluent applied to permeable soils.

Key Words: Zea mays L. • Phalaris arundinacea L. • sewage • irrigation • forage digestibility • crude protein • corn fodder • forage composition

¹ Contribution from the USDA-SEA, AR, North Central Region, St. Paul, MN 55108, in cooperation with the Minnesota Agric. Exp. Stn., Paper no. 10,784. Support for this research came in part from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission, St. Paul.

² Research Agronomist, Research Soil Scientist, and Research Chemist, respectively, USDA-SEA, AR; also, Professor, Agronomy and Plant Genetics, and Professors, Soil Science, respectively, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul.

Received for publication June 11, 1979.