INTEGRATED TREATED WATER WITH FRESH WATER FOR ALFALFA PRODUCTION

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of treated sewage water from natural oxidation bonds as wall as aquatic plants on yield of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) compared with fresh water for the period of nine months. It can be used as alternative for fertilizer and increasing the yield of crops. The result showed that using sewage effluent as irrigated water increased markedly the height and the diameter of stem, thus increasing the yield by percentage around 8%. Far the more, the yield increased by 17% by using the natural oxidation bonds as well as the aquatic plants comparing with fresh water only. The premating results of this study were indicated the importance of increasing use of treated waste water to minimize the environmental pollution by safe and economic approach, and depend on it as a main source of agriculture water resources in Arab world which have a big role in supporting a traditional limited water sources and minimizing the use of chemical fertilizer, in addition to verification food and water security.