Yields, Quality and Metal Accumulation of Chinese Cabbage Irrigated with Diary Effluent

Abstract: In order to investigate the short-term effects of wastewater (dairy effluent) and EM treated wastewater on cabbage quality (vitamin C, nitrate), yield, Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) uptakes and heavy metals (i.e., Hg, Pb and Cd) accumulation in Cabbage, field experiments were conducted with the following irrigation treatments: Clean Water (CW), Waste Water (WW), Reclaimed Water-EM treated wastewater (RW), Clear Water-wastewater rotation (C/W) and clear water-treated wastewater rotation (C/R). The results showed that: yield of cabbages, concentration of total N and P in cabbages could be improved in treatment irrigated with both untreated and EM treated dairy effluent, especially in treatments RW and C/R. Heavy metals in cabbages irrigated with/without dairy effluent showed non-significant difference. The highest nitrate was obtained with C/W treatment and the lowest was obtained with the RW treatment. With integrate comparative study of nutrition, nitrate and heavy metal, EM treated dairy effluent is more suitable to irrigate cabbage than raw dairy effluent. And the cabbages under RW and C/W treatment grew better than other treatments. It is suggested that the EM treated wastewater can be used as a safe alternative for irrigation of cabbages edible