Abstract

RAMON ZAMORA, Frank; RODRIGUEZ GUEVARA, Nectalí José; TORRES RODRIGUEZ, Duilio Gilberto  and  YENDIS COLINA, Héctor José. Use of wastewater and organic matter and microbiological mass content of Coro plain soils, Venezuela. Agric. Téc. Méx [online]. 2009, vol.35, n.2, pp.211-218. ISSN 0568-2517.

The wastewater is an important resource that can be used for irrigation in the semiarid regions. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the use of treated wastewater on the biological proprieties of the soil at Falcon state, Venezuela. The wastewater was previously analyzed at five points during the treatment process to assure its quality for irrigation. The study was carried out at three agricultural production units located at the Coro plain: a) under permanent irrigation of grass, b) intermittent irrigation of vegetable crops and c) in an area not previously irrigated with wastewater. Thirteen composite soil samples were taken and analyzed at the Agriculture National Research Institute (INIA), Ceniap, Maracay. Soil microbial biomass, organic matter and bacterial and fungi populations were determined. Results showed that under permanent irrigation, soil organic matter content increased up to 4.31% that was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the intermittent and the soil no previously irrigated with wastewater with 1.33 and 0.88%, respectively. The higher content of soil organic matter reflected a larger biological activity that was evident from the increase in microbial biomass and bacterial and fungi populations in the permanently wastewater irrigated soil.

Keywords : contamination; heavy metals; microbial biomass; organic matter.