Abstract:
The study was conducted from November 2014 to March 2015 at Mafisa Waste Stabilization
Ponds site in Morogoro to assess the suitability of using Constructed Wetland (CW) treated
wastewater as a source of nutrients and irrigation water. A yellow coloured local common bean
variety (‘Kigoma’) was sown on July 27, 2014 at a spacing of 50cm between rows and 10cm
between plants. The experiment was laid out as a Split-Plot in Randomized Complete Block
(RCB) Design with four treatment categories namely, (i) Waste water (WW) only (ii) WW +
NPK (iii) Tap water (TW) only (iv) TW + NPK in 4 replicates. Quantitative data were collected
on yield and yield components namely, biomass, flowering percentage, number of beans, weight
of beans, plant height, leaf length and number, fertile and sterile pods. Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) was accomplished using General Statistics (GENSTAT) software while differences
between treatments categories was accomplished using Student Keul Test at (p?0.05) using
INSTAT 3 statistical package. Plots irrigated with WW only resulted in relatively higher yields
(0.78ton/ha) as a result of more seed weight compared to plots irrigated with Tap Water only
which yielded 0.12 ton/ha only. This was attributed to the presence of nutrients in WW. The
plots that received WW and NPK resulted in more foliage biomass and sterile pods implying that
there was nutrients overload. More studies using improved varieties in different growing season
were recommended. |
