J. Env. Bio-Sci., 2015: Vol.

29 (2):513-517
(513) ISSN 0973-6913 (Print), ISSN 0976-3384 (On Line)

INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATING TREATED TANNERY EFFLUENT ON COTTON YIELD,

NUTRIENT UPTAKE, SOIL ANIONS, CATIONS AND EXCHANGEABLE
SODIUM PERCENTAGE
N. Jagathjothi1 and M. Mohamed Amanullah2
1
Water Technology Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India
2
Department of Agronomy, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore - 641 003, India
[Corresponding author E-mail1: jothinarayanan2000@gmail.com]

Received: 08-09-2015 Accepted: 26-09-2015

A field experiment was conducted at the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), Dindigul, Tamil Nadu during kharif 2011-12 to
study the effect of treated tannery effluent with domestic wastewater irrigation and amendments on cotton yield, nutrient uptake,
exchangeable soil anions, cations and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). Field experiment was laid out in factorial randomized
block design with four replications. The results revealed that the mixing proportion of 25% treated tannery effluent (TTE) + 75%
domestic wastewater (DWW) recorded higher seed cotton yield and nutrient uptake compared to other mixing proportions. The
exchangeable Ca, Mg, Na, ESP, chloride and sulphate were higher under 100% TTE and lesser with normal water irrigation,
whereas mixing ratio of 1:3 recorded lesser values than the other mixing ratios. With regard to amendments, application of
gypsum showed better response than VAM and control. Among the mixing proportion of irrigation source and amendments,
application of 25% TTE + 75% DWW with gypsum registered lesser yield reduction compared to normal water irrigation with
gypsum.

The Indian leather industry has earned a special status in the
national economy and provides employment opportunity to
about 3 million people of economically weaker populations
but it has highly problematic impact on the environment by
the way of using varied chemicals for leather processing1.
The inherent nature of the tanning process is that large
quantities of water are consumed. Water consumption in various
unit operations varies from one tannery to another and shows
wide variations depending on the process involved, the raw
material used and the manufactured products2. In this manner
tanning industries generates huge amount of effluent.
Unsystematic disposal of these effluents could demolish soil
qualities and ground water sources. On another way, growing
population, rapid industrialization, urbanization and multiple
use of water have increased the demand for water. This has
led to water scarcity which could be partly defeat by recycling
of wastewater. Currently, recycling of water is not practised on
a large scale in India3. With this alarm, treated wastewater is
now being considered as a new source of water for irrigation.
The study area of CETP, Dindigul is collecting vegetable tanning
effluent (major pollutant in vegetable tanning effluent is total
dissolved solids) from 61 leather industries receiving about
1500 m 3 of effluent per day. Domestic wastewater generation
in this city is more than 5 time of tannery effluent generation
per day. Generally, Dindigul region is drought affected area
with minimal water sources due to overexploitation of water
table for irrigation and tanning through dug wells, dug cum
bore wells and bore wells4. In this condition, reuse of treated
tannery effluent and domestic wastewater for agriculture will
help to reduce pressure on the environment to a greater extent
by reducing the use of good quality fresh water. Hence, the
present investigation was carried out to study the influence of
treated tannery effluent along with domestic wastewater and
amendments on cotton yield, nutrient uptake, post harvest
exchangeable soil anions, cations and ESP.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The field experiment was carried out during kharif 2011-12 at
the common effluent treatment plant (CETP), Dindigul to study
the effect of treated tannery effluent and domestic wastewater
irrigation with amendments on cotton yield, nutrient uptake,
post harvest exchangeable soil anions, cations and ESP. The
soil type was red sandy clay loam in texture. The experimental
soil was neutral with low EC, low in available nitrogen, medium
in available phosphorus and high in available potash. The
experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design
with four replications. Treatment comprised six levels of
irrigation sources viz., I1 - 25% treated tannery effluent (TTE)
+ 75% domestic wastewater (DWW), I2 - 50% TTE + 50%

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 INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATING TREATED TANNERY EFFLUENT ON COTTON (514)

DWW, I3 - 75% TTE + 25% DWW, I4 - 100% TTE, I5 - 100%
DWW and I6 - control (normal water) treatments under factor
A and three amendments viz., Ao - control (without amendment),
A1 - gypsum and A2 - VAM as treatments under factor B.
The well decomposed FYM at the rate of 12.5 tonnes ha-1 was
applied at the time of land preparation. Cotton was cultivated
as a test crop with 90 x 60 cm spacing. The recommended
dose of 120:60:60 kg of NPK ha-1 was applied in the form of
urea, single super phosphate and muriate of potash,
respectively. Half the dose (50%) of N and K and full dose of P
were applied as basal dose as band placement 5 cm away
and 5 cm below the seed row. The remaining 50 % of N and K
were applied in two equal splits at the time of square initiation
(45 DAS) combined with earthing up and boll formation stage
(65 DAS). VAM inoculum (Glomus intraradices) was applied
at the rate of 100 kg ha-1 and gypsum applied as basal at the
rate of 4 t ha -1 as general recommendation. As per the
treatment, equal quantity of irrigation water was given for each
plot throughout the experiment period with the help of scale
marked water tanks.
RESULTS AND DISSCUSION
SEED COTTON YIELD: The seed cotton yield was higher
(1167 kg ha-1) with normal water irrigation which is as expected
due to optimum plant population, photosynthetic ability of the
plants in community, higher DMP, higher uptake of nutrients
and higher retention of bolls in cotton5. Normal water irrigation
was followed by 100% DWW (1030 kg ha-1) and 25% TTE +
75% DWW (979 kg ha-1) irrigation which were comparable
with each other. This might be due to higher nutrient uptake of
nutrients present in wastewater with lesser salt content. These
results confirm the findings of earlier research in vegetable
crops6. Application of 25% TTE + 75% DWW recorded 16.11%
yield reduction (Table-1) compared to normal water irrigation,
whereas, the least seed cotton yield was recorded under 100%
TTE and the yield reduction was 47.56% compared to normal
water.
was recorded under the treatment combination of normal water
with gypsum application followed by 100% DWW with gypsum
and combination of 25% TTE + 75% DWW with gypsum (1040
kg ha-1) and both were comparable. The least seed cotton
yield was obtained under 100% TTE without addition of
amendments.
NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF COTTON; The nutrient uptake at
different stages of cotton was significantly influenced by different
irrigation sources (Table-2 and 3). In all the stages of crop, the
higher NPK uptake was recorded under normal water and 100%
DWW irrigation and both the treatment were comparable each
other. The enhanced nutrient availability and higher DMP in
these treatments resulted in higher uptake of nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium. This result corroborates the
findings of earlier workers in cotton7. Among the mixing ratios,
combination of 25% TTE + 75% DWW recorded higher NPK
uptake which reduced with increasing concentration of effluent.
The least nutrient uptake was observed under 100% TTE
because presence of higher Na, Cl and HCO3 concentrations
in the soil solution caused combination of complex interactions
that affect nutrient uptake and plant metabolism 8.
Among the amendments, gypsum application recorded higher
NPK uptake. The least NPK uptake was observed under
Table-1. Influence of TTE irrigation with amendments
on seed cotton yield (kg ha-1).

Regarding amendments, gypsum application registered higher

seed cotton yield (917 kg ha-1). The least seed cotton yield
was obtained under control.

The interaction between irrigation sources and amendments

TTE - Treated tannery effluent, DWW - Domestic wastewater
on seed cotton yield was significant. Higher seed cotton yield
A0 - Without amendment (control), A1 - Gypsum, A2 - VAM.

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 (515) JAGATHJOTHI AND AMANULLAH

Table-2. Influence of TTE irrigation with amendments on N and P uptake (kg ha-1) of cotton at different stages.

TTE - Treated tannery effluent, DWW - Domestic wastewater

Table-3. Influence of TTE irrigation with amendments on K uptake (kg ha-1) of cotton at different stages and post
harvest exchangeable soil anions (cmol (p+) kg-1).

TTE - Treated tannery effluent, DWW - Domestic wastewater.

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 INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATING TREATED TANNERY EFFLUENT ON COTTON (516)

Table-4. Influence of TTE irrigation with amendments on post harvest exchangeable soil cations and
exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP)

TTE - Treated tannery effluent, DWW - Domestic wastewater

control.
POST HARVEST EXCHANGEABLE SOIL ANIONS: Anions
of soil were altered significantly by different irrigation sources
and amendments. The concentration of anions viz., chloride and
sulphate were higher with application of 100% TTE (Table- 3).
This might be due to the accumulation of anions present in the
TTE during irrigations. Among the mixing ratios, lesser anions
was recorded with 1:3 ratio (25% TTE + 75% DWW) which
might be due to higher dilution by DWW and the resultant
lesser accumulation of anions9. Regarding the amendments,
gypsum applied plots recorded the least anions followed by
VAM application. Higher anions concentration was recorded
with control.
POST HARVEST EXCHANGEABLE SOIL CATIONS AND
ESP: Application of different irrigation treatments and
amendments significantly influenced the exchangeable soil
cations and ESP. With respect to Ca, Mg, Na and ESP,
application of 100% treated tannery effluent recorded higher
Ca, Mg and Na content than other treatments (Table-4). This
might be due to the presence of large amount of Ca, Mg and
Na ions in the treated tannery effluent. Some workers has
reported similar finding earlier10. The increased dilution of the
effluent with DWW (1:3 ratio) recorded lesser Ca, Mg and Na
content among the other mixing ratios. The lesser content of
Ca, Mg and Na in the domestic wastewater might have reduced
the content in the mixture and hence the availability.
Regarding K content, application of 100% domestic wastewater
increased the K content in soil. The higher K content of domestic
wastewater might be the reason for increased soil K content11.
This treatment was followed by mixing ratio of 25% TTE +
75% DWW. In general, the K status of the soil reduced with
increasing concentration of tannery effluent.
With respect to ESP, irrigation of 100% TTE recorded higher
ESP. Increased sodicity of soil had reflected in higher ESP of
soil, but the ESP decreased with higher dilution of effluent and
therefore irrigation of 25% TTE + 75% DWW recorded the
least ESP compared to other mixing ratios of TTE and DWW12.
Gypsum application might have interacted with soil and by
releasing of Ca and Mg to the soil resulted in reduced Na and
ESP13. The gypsum application also increased the soil Ca
content14. This might be due to slow soluble nature of the
gypsum permits the release of calcium slowly during entire
period of crop growth and which the principal reason for higher
level of exchangeable calcium in the soil and reduced leaching

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 (517) JAGATHJOTHI AND AMANULLAH

of exchangeable K. Irrigation of 25% TTE with 75% DWW (1:3 7. Ravankar, H.N. and Laharia, G.S. (1994). PKV Res. J., 18(1):
ratio) for cotton facilitated the effective utilization of both effluent 104.
and wastewater through better crop productivity and reduced 8. Marschner , H. (1995). In: Mineral nutrition of higher plants.

soil pollution compared to 100% TTE. Hence, lower Academic Press, London.
9. Indra, K. (2003). In: M/Sc. thesis submitted at Department of
concentration of tannery effluent may be used for irrigation
Environmental Science, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
purpose without significant loss in the crop yield. Regarding
Coimbatore.
the amendments, gypsum application registered higher yield
10. Machado, M., Diaz, A.D. and Zonta, E.P. (1984). Agropecuaria,
and favoured soil environment by acting as a good ameliorative.
211.

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