Effect of Treated and Untreated Coffee Wastewater on Growth, Yield and Quality of Palmarosa Grass (Cymbopogon martini L.) var. motia.

Abstract

A study was carried out to characterize the coffee wastewater by measuring the selected physico-chemical characteristics, amelioration of the wastewater by using some ameliorative techniques and field study to know the effect of treated and untreated coffee wastewater on growth, yield and other properties of Palmarosa grass. The coffee wastewater is analyzed to know the physico chemical properties by using standard methodologies. Various ameliorative techniques were used to ameliorate the wastewater. The treated and untreated wastewater was used for crop growth and analysis. The results indicated that coffee wastewater is highly acidic and possess all the qualities of polluted water and the quality can be improved by different ameliorative techniques. The growth studies indicate that the treated effluent samples showed better results than the raw effluent (untreated). Among the different treated samples, sand cum clay filtered samples showed better results than other treatments. The raw effluent showed the inhibitory effect on grass growth, tillage formation, dry matter production, chlorophyll content and plant nutrients content. The study revealed that coffee wastewater can be successfully utilized for irrigation after suitable treatments and dilutions.