Abstract

On Reunion Island, a French overseas territory located in the western Indian Ocean, increasing pig livestock farming is generating large quantities of slurry. Most of it is spread on a little agricultural land due to the insular context. Considering the limitation of the quantities that can be spread on agricultural areas (European "Nitrate Directive" 91/676/EEC), the use of wastewater treatment systems using phytoremediation principles is an attractive option for the pig slurry treatment. A wastewater treatment system using bamboo groves was assessed for the pig slurry treatment. Three field plots were designed on an agricultural area and planted with 40 bamboo clumps on each plot. A total of 67 m(3) of pig slurry was spread on two plots in two forms: raw slurry and centrifuged slurry. The latter plot was watered with tap water. The total amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was 5.3, 1.4 and 5.5 t.ha(-1), respectively, for the raw slurry treatment and 4.2, 0.4 and 5.1 t.ha(-1), respectively, for the centrifuged slurry treatment. The response of bamboo species to pig slurry application was determined using morphologic parameters, Chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements and biomass yield. Compared to the control, the biomass increased by 1.8 to 6 times, depending on the species and the form of slurry. Depending on the species, the average biomass ranged from 52 to 135 t.DM.ha(-1) in two years of experiment.

Keywords

bamboo species; pig slurry; biomass yield; wastewater treatment

Published in

Plants
2020, Volume: 9, number: 4, article number: 522

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9040522

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112408