Olive mill wastewater effects on durum wheat crop attributes and soil microbial activities: A pilot study in Syria

Abstract

Olive mill wastewater is one of the environmental problems in semiarid regions. The main goals of this study were to investigate the impacts of different olive mill wastewater levels on durum wheat (Triticum aestivum var. Douma1) production and soil microbial activities (i.e., bacteria and fungi). A pot experiment was conducted during the growing seasons 2015/2017 to evaluate the effect of three levels of olive mill wastewater on both growth and productivity attributes of wheat. Vertisol soil samples were collected from southern Syria. Two months before wheat cultivation, three levels of olive mill wastewater: T5 (5 L/m ²), T10 (10 L/m²) and T15 (15 L/m ²) were added to pots filled with the collected soil samples. Also, a control (T0) free of olive mill wastewater was considered as a reference. Results showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in germination rate (%), plant height (cm), ear length (cm), kernels number, kernels weight per ear (g) and grain yield (g/m²) compared to control. However, T5 treatment did not induce a significant increase in terms of ear length, kernels weight per ear or yield (in the second season). On the other hand, T10 treatment had recorded the best results compared with the other two treatments (T5, T15). Similarly, the results showed a significant increase in the number of bacterial and fungi cells by increasing olive mill wastewater concentration. This research provides promising results toward using olive mill wastewater in an eco-friendly way under Syrian conditions.

Keywords

Vertisol; olive wastewater / Triticum durum / Semiarid regions; food security / Mediterranean region

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Funding

University of Debrecen