Title:
Growth, Productivity and Biomass Quality of Arundo Irrigated with Zn and Cu Contaminated Wastewaters
Author(s):
Costa, J., Barbosa, B., Boléo, S., Bandarra, V., Sidella, S., Duarte, M.P., Fernando, A.L., Mendes, B.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Arundo donax is a woody rhizomatous grass. It is a perennial plant and both the stems and leaves of the crop can be harvested annually. It is characterized by relatively high yields, high water and nitrogen efficiencies and an apparently low susceptibility to pests and diseases. Besides efficient land use, the growing demand of biomass must be met by plant nutrition and irrigation efficiency. As with land, different water and nutrients uses can be found between perennial grasses. Both dedicated water and fertilizer inputs can be cutback resorting to production of domestic wastes such as wastewater and slurry. Phytoremediation, the use of vegetation for the decontamination of polluted waters, is a not very expensive strategy and has been presented as an approach to restore or attenuate and stabilize the pollutant load of wastewaters while bringing additional revenue. In this context, this research work aims to study the phytoremediation response of Arundo donax to zinc and copper contaminated waters (10/20 mg Zn.dm-3 and 1/2 mg Cu.dm-3) with different irrigation regimes (950, 475 and 238 mm). Results showed that growth and biomass productivity were not affected by the heavy metal contaminated waters. It even contributed positively to enhance production, especially with wastewaters rich in Cu. Lowering the water addedd on the irrigation only affected negatively the productivity with the lowest water regime (238mm). Biomass obtained with Zn and Cu contaminated waters presented higher Zn and Cu content than biomass from control pots. With the highest water regime (950mm) it was also observed a higher ash content in the biomass obtained in pots irrigated with contaminated wastewaters.
Keywords:
heavy metals, perennial energy crops, wastewater, removal, Arundo donax L., phytoremediation
Topic:
Biomass resources
Subtopic:
Energy crops and energy grasses
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
1BV.3.6
Pages:
308 - 310
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-1BV.3.6
Price:
FREE
