Impact of sugar mill effluent on soil quality

Sugar mill effluent plays a vital role in polluting the environment which contained high pollutants. In the present study the physico-chemical properties of soil due to the effluent irrigation (before and after harvesting of African marigold with different concentration (10, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) of sugar mill effluent irrigation). Control of soil used as a tap water. The following parameters were analyzed such as pH, EC, moisture content, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn. The results showed that sugar mill effluent reduced the pH and moisture content of the soil. The highest level of EC value recorded in higher concentrations of effluent irrigated soil. The sugar mill effluent significantly increased the nutrients and heavy metals in the soil with increasing of effluent concentrations. The highest agronomic performance of Tagetes erecta L. was found at 10% concentrations of sugar mill effluent irrigated soil. Based on the work lower concentrations of sugar mill effluent (10%) contained required amount of plant nutrient which increased soil fertility. The suggestion of the work the lower concentration (10%) of sugar mill effluent can be utilized for irrigation, which used for alternative the scarcity of water and fertilizer.