Chandraju S, Nagendraswamy R, Chidankumar C. S, Swamy G. Influence of Distillery Spentwash Irrigation on the Nutrients Uptake of Herbal Medicinal Plants in Normal and Spentwash Treated Soil. Biomed Pharmacol J 2010;3(1)

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Manuscript received on :April 15, 2010
Manuscript accepted on :May 05, 2010
Published online on: 20-11-2015

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S. Chandraju¹*, R. Nagendraswamy², C. S. Chidankumar³ and Girijanagendra Swamy⁴

¹Department of Studies in Sugar Technology, Sir M.Visweswaraya Postgraduate Center, University of Mysore,Tubinakere, Mandya - 571 402 India.

²Department of Chemistry, Govt. First College, Hanagodu, Mysore Dt., Karnataka India.

³Department of Chemistry, Bharathi College, Bharathi Nagar - 571 422 India.

⁴Department of Chemistry, Maharani's Science College, Mysore - 570 005 India.

Abstract

Cultivation of some herbal medicinal plants was made by irrigation with distillery spentwash of different proportions. The spentwash i.e., primary treated spentwash (PTSW) and 33% spentwash were analyzed for their plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and other physical and chemical parameters. Experimental soils i.e, normal soil (plot-1) and spentwash treated (plot-2) soils were tested for their chemical and physical parameters. herbal medicinal plants, namely, Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), Kama kasturi (Ocimum basilicum) and Thumbe (Leucas asper) seeds (Namadhari and Mayhco) were sowed in the prepared land and irrigated with raw water (RW) and 33% spent wash. Influence of spentwash in normal and spentwash treated soils on proximate principles (moisture, protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrate, energy, calcium, phosphorous, and iron), Vitamin content (carotene and vitaminc), minerals and trace elements (magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, manganese, zinc, chromium and nickel) were investigated at their respective maturity. It was found that the nutrients of all plants were high in 33% than raw water irrigation. Further, the nutritive values were very high in spentwash treated soil (plot-2) than normal soil (plot-1) and raw water irrigations for all plants.

Keywords

Distillery spentwash, Medicinal plants, Nutrients, Proximate principles, Normal soil, Spentwash Treated soil

Introduction

Molasses (one of the important byproducts of sugar industry) is the chief source for the production of ethanol in distilleries by fermentation method. About eight (08) liters of waste water is discharged for every lifer of ethanol production in distilleries, known as raw spentwash (RSW), which is characterized by high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD: 5000-8000mg/L) and chemical oxygen demand (COD: 25000-30000mg/L)(Joshi, et al.,), undesirable color and foul smell. Discharge of raw spentwash into open land or near by water bodies resulting in a number of environmental, water and soil pollution including threat to plant and animal lives. Hence, discharge of spentwash is a serious problem.

The RSW is highly acidic and contains easily oxidizable organic matter with very high BOD and COD (Patil et al.,). Also, spent wash contains highest content of organic nitrogen and nutrients (Ramadurai and Gearard, 1987). By installing biomethenation plant in distilleries, reduces the oxygen demand of RSW, the resulting spentwash is called primary treated spentwash (PTSW) and primary treatment to RSW increases the nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and phosphorous (P) contents and decreases the calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), chloride (Cl^–), and sulphate (SO₄^2-) (Mahamod Haroon and Subhash Chandra Bose,2004). The PTSW is rich in potassium (K), sulphur (S), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) as well as easily biodegradable organic matter and its application to soil has been reported to be beneficial to increase sugarcane (Zalawadia et al., 1997), Rice (Devarajan and Oblisami, 1998), Wheat and Rice yield (Pathak et al., 1998), quality of Groundnut (Amar Singh et al., 2003) and physiological response of Soybean (Ramana et al., 2000). Diluted spentwash could be used for irrigation purpose without adversely affecting soil fertility (Kaushik et al., 2005; Kuntal et al., 2004; Raverkar et al., 2000), seed germination and crop productivity (Ramana  et al., 2001). The diluted spentwash irrigation improved the physical and chemical properties of the soil and further increased soil microflora (Devarajan et al., 1994). Twelve pre sowing irrigations with the diluted spentwash had no adverse effect on the germination of Maize but improved the growth and yield (Singh and Raj Bahadur, 1998). Diluted spentwash increases the growth of shoot length, leaf number per plant, leaf area and chlorophyll content of peas (Rani and Srivastava, 1990). Increased concentration of spentwash causes decreased seed germination, seedling growth and chlorophyll content in Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) and the spentwash could safely used for irrigation purpose at lower concentration (Rajendran,1990; Ramana et al.,2001). The spentwash contained an excess of various forms of cations and anions, which are injurious to plant growth and these constituents should be reduced to beneficial level by diluting the spent wash, which can be used as a substitute for chemical fertilizer (Sahai et al., 1983). The spent wash could be used as a complement to mineral fertilizer to sugarcane (Chares, 1985). The spent wash contained N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S and thus valued as a fertilizer when applied to soil through irrigation with water (Samuel, 1986). The application of diluted spentwash increased the uptake of Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) in Maize and Wheat as compared to control and the highest total uptake of these were found at lower dilution levels than at higher dilution levels (Pujar,1995). Mineralization of organic material as well as nutrients present in the spentwash was responsible for increased availability of plant nutrients. Diluted spent wash increase the uptake of nutrients, height, growth and yield of Leaves vegetables (Chandraju et al., 2008; Basavaraju and Chandraju. 2008), nutrients of Cabbage and Mint leaf (Chandraju et al., 2008), nutrients of Top vegetable (Basavaraju and Chandraju, 2008), Pulses, Condiments and Root vegetables (Chandraju et al., 2008), nutrients of Pulses in normal and treated soil (Chidankumar and Chandraju, 2008).

However, not much information is available on the studies of distillery spentwash on the nutrients of herbal medicinal plants in normal and spentwash treated soil. Therefore, the present investigation was carried out to investigate the influence of different concentration of spentwash on the nutrients of herbal medicinal plants in normal and spentwash treated soils.

Material and Methods

Physico-chemical parameters and amount of nitrogen (N), potassium (K), phosphorous (P) and sulphur (S) present in the primary treated spentwash  and 33% spentwash were analyzed by standard methods (Tables – 1 and 2). The PTSW was used for irrigation with a dilution of 33% in plot-1 and plot-2. Before initiation, plot-2 soil was treated with diluted spentwash for four times, with an interval of one week, each time land was ploughed and exposed to sunlight. A composite soil samples from both plots were collected at 25 cm depth, air-dried, powdered and analyzed for physico-chemical properties (Table-3).

Table 1: Chemical composition of distillery spentwash

Units: a – μS, b – mg/L, c– %, PTSW – Primary treated distillery spentwash

Table 2: Amounts Of N, P, K And S (Nutrients) In Distillery Spentwash

Unit: b – mg/L,    PTSW – Primary treated distillery spentwash

Table 3: Characteristics of experimental soils

Plot-1: Normal Soil; Plot-2: Spentwash treated Soil Units: a- %; b– µS; c-ppm

Herbal medicinal plants selected for present investigation were Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum), Kama kasturi (Ocimum basilicum)         and Thumbe (Leucas asper).  The seeds were sowed and irrigated with raw water (RW) and 33% spentwash in both plots at the dosage of twice a week and rest of the period with raw water depends upon the climatic condition. At the maturity time, plants were harvested and proximate principles, vitamins, minerals and trace elements were analyzed. Cultivation of medicinal plants was repeated for three times in each case, all parameters were determined and average values were recorded.

Results and Discussion

Chemical composition of PTSW and 33% spentwash such as pH, electrical conductivity, total solids (TS), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), settelable solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), carbonates, bicarbonates, total phosphorous (P), total potassium (K), ammonical nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulphur (S), sodium (Na), chlorides (Cl), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) were analyzed and tabulated (Table-1). Amounts of N, P, K and S contents are presented in Table-2.

Characteristics of experimental soils(Plot-1 & plot-2) such as pH, electrical conductivity, the amount of organic carbon, available nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), sulphur (S) exchangeable calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), DTPA iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) were analyzed (Manivasakam, 1987:Subbaiah and Asija, 1956: Piper, 1966: Walkeley and Black,1934: Jackson, 1973: Black,1965: Lindsay and Norvel, 1978)and tabulated (Table-3).

Uptakes of all the parameters were very good in 33% spentwash irrigation than compared to raw water rrigaion in both fields (plots1&2) for all plants. However considerable uptake of the nutrients is very high in plot-2 than plot-1 in all types of irrigations for all plants and there was no negative impact of spentwash on the nutrients (Tables: 4-6).

Table 4: Nutritive values of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) in plot-1 & 2

a-g; b-k.cal; c-mg; d-µg; RW-Raw water PTSW-Primary treated spentwash Plot1: Normal soil; Plot-2: Spentwash treated soil

Table 5: Nutritive values of Kama kasturi (Ocimum basilicum) in plot-1 & 2

a-g; b-k.cal; c-mg; d-µg; RW-Raw water

PTSW-Primary treated spentwash                                                                              

Plot-1: Normal soil; Plot-2: Spentwash treated soil

Table 6: Nutritive values of Thumbe [Leucas aspera) in plot-1 & 2

a-g; b-k.cal; c-mg; d-µg; RW-Raw water PTSW-Primary treated spentwash  Plot-1: Normal soil; Plot-2: Spentwash treated soil

Conclusion

It was noticed that the nutrients uptake in all medicinal plants were largely influenced in case of 33% diluted spentwash irrigation than with raw water in spentwash treated soil than normal soil. This concludes that, the spentwash treated soil is enriched with the plant nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. It further concludes that, the subsequent use of diluted spentwash for irrigation enriches the soil fertility and hence the diluted spentwash (33%) is effective eco-friendly irrigation medium for cultivation of medicinal plants without any adverse effect.

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