International Journal of Civil Engineering and (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OFTechnology CIVIL ENGINEERING AND

D (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME TECHNOLOGY (IJCIET) ISSN 0976 6308 (Print) ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), pp. 316-320 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijciet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.3277 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJCIET
IAEME

IMPROVEMENT IN BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ALKALINE SOILS BY USING PRESSMUD

E.SANJEEVA RAYUDU*, Dr. M. SRIMURALI** and K. VENKAIAH*** * Assistant professor, Dept of Civil Engg, G.Pulla Reddy Engineering College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh ** Professor of Civil Engg, Sri Venkateswara University College of Engineering, S.V.University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh *** Professor of Soil Science, Department of Soil Science, A.N.G.R. Agricultural University College, Tirupathi.

ABSTRACT This paper communicates the biological improvement studies of Alkaline soils by using Pressmud. Alkaline soils are found to be high in pH, low organic carbon, less in micro and macro nutrients, low porosity and less soil microbes resulting unsuitable for agriculture whereas, Pressmud contain significant quantities of soil microbes and nutrients for remediation of alkaline soil. This study was conducted for improving biological properity of alkaline soil by adding different quantity of pressmud and it clearly demonstrated that improvement biological properties of alkali soils are amenable by using Pressmud. The treatment resulted in amelioration of biological environment of the alkali soil and rendered the alkaline soil suitable for agricultural purpose. Key Words: Alkaline soils, pH, Biological properties and pressmud. INTRODUCTION The soil is a dynamic medium, constituting the habitat of abundant biodiversity, with unique genetic patterns where one can find the greatest amount and variety of living organisms, which serve as a nutrient reservoir. One gram of soil in good conditions can contain 600 million bacteria belonging to 15,000 or 20,000 different species. These values decrease to 1 million bacteria encompassing from 5000 to 8000 species in desert soils (Informativo Capebe, 2010).

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME Out of total 952 million hectares of alkaline soils in the world (FAO/UNESCO, 1974), about 7.421 million hectares land was affected by salinity and Alkanity in India (Sharma, 1998). These soils are high in pH, low porosity values, low organic carbon, less in macro nutrients and in micro nutrients, less fertility and soil microbes rendering unsuitable for agricultural crop Excessive wastes of varied and intense nature are being generated due to industrialization. These wastes often contain valuable material and some times, are being used or reused in uneconomic manner or many times left completely unutilized causing a great hazard to the human environment. Hence rational utilization and management of disposal of wastes has assumed importance in order to prevent environmental pollution and to conserve the resources. Agriculture is primary activity in India and is of great importance in the Indian economy. About 60 to 70% of total populations are depending on the agriculture for their livelihood. Vermicomposting technology using earthworms as versatile natural bioreactors for effective recycling of organic wastes to the soil is an environmentally acceptable means of converting waste into nutritious composts for crop production (Graff, 1981; Edward et al., 1985; Bano et al.,).Vermicompost has been shown to have high levels of total and available nitrogen, phosphorous,potassium (NPK) and micro nutrients, microbial and enzyme activities and growth regulators (Parthasarathi and Ranganathan 1999; Chaoui et al., 2003) and continuous and adequate use with proper management can increase soil organic carbon, soil water retention and transmission and improvement in other physical properties of soil like bulk density, penetration resistance and aggregation (Zebarth et al., 1999) as well as beneficial effect on the growth of a variety of plants (Atiyeh et al.,2002) The current study, alkaline soils as well as Pressmud were collected from near by IDA, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh and analysed for selected parameters to characterize the soils and to assess the potentiality of pressmud for biological improvement in alkaline soils. MATERIALS AND METHODS 1. Collection of alkaline soil samples from various locations of Renigunta mandal near Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh and analysis of soil samples for various parameters including pH, EC and Soil microbes shown in table 1. Table 1 characteristics of existing soil Parameter pH EC Bacteria Fungi mMhos/cm ( x 103 CFU/gm) ( x 103 CFU/gm) Units Values 8.8 3.2 1000 0

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME 2. Collection of Pressmud from nearby Sugar industry to assess its potentiality for improvement alkaline soils of low soil microbes values and shown the characteristics of pressmud in table 2. Table 2 Characteristics of Pressmud . Parameter pH EC Bacteria Fungi Units mMhos/cm cfu/gm cfu/gm Values 7.5 7.71 7,000,000 500,000

3. The various quantities of Pressmud was added to to one cubic feet of soil, then mixed thoroughly and was kept for a curing period of 90 days. Analysis of soil, treated with various combination of Pressmud after curing shown in Table3. Based on the results of analysis optimum dosage of pressmud for biological improvement of soil for agricultural purpose was evaluated. Table 3 Characteristics of Alkaline Soil Treated With Pressmud Treatment (Quantity) Soil Microbes (cfu/g) Bacteria 1000 3000 7000 15000 32000 70000 90000 150000 270000 500000 1700000 Fungi 0 1000 1500 3000 7000 15000 27000 32000 52000 100000 300000

pH 8.8 8.7 8.62 8.55 8.46 8.39 8.32 8.28 8.20 8.15 7.99

EC mMhos/cm 3.20 3.31 3.37 3.43 3.50 3.62 3.73 3.85 3.97 4.1 4.17

T0 (Blank) 10ton/ha 20 ton/ha 30 ton/ha 40 ton/ha 50 ton/ ha 60 ton/ha 70 ton/ha 80 ton/ha 90 ton/ha 100 ton/ha

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Nature of soil Based on the results of analysis, alkaline soil was identified and selected. Soil may be classified as Alkaline, if the pH is more than 8.5; EC is less than 4.0 mMhos/cm. The values of pH and Electrical conductivity (EC) of the soil chosen for the present study are 8.8 and 3.2. Nature of Industrial waste Results of analysis of pressmud from sugar industry are presented in the Table 2. Perusal of the data indicates that Pressmud is capable to ameliorate biological characteristics of soil. pH The variation in pH of the soil may be attributed to the slightly lower pH of the Pressmud compared to the treated soil. The resulted pH after final treatment is around neutral and it is desirable as it is indicative of the status of microbial environment/communities and its net effect on the mineralization of organic residues and for immobilization of available nutrients. EC The EC value of treated alkaline soil increased from 3.20 to 4.17 mMhos/cm, it is significant since conductivity beyond 4 MMhos/cm is injurious to most crops. The increase in soluble salt content with Pressmud might be attributed to the presence of soluble salts in the press mud as evidenced by higher Electrical Conductivity values of Pressmud material (7.71 mMhos/cm). Bacteria The variation of soil Bacterial population presented in Table6, revealed that the treated alkaline soils were progressively ameliorate with different proportions of Pressmud and enhanced from 3000 to 1700000. An increase of Bacterial population in the treated alkaline soils is due to the presence of considerable enriching of bacteria in the Pressmud used in the present investigation. Fungi The application different proportion of Pressmud as evidenced from the Figure 5.15 also increased the soil Fungi content. The Fungi content advanced from 1000 to 300000. An increase of fungi population in the treated alkaline soils is due to the presence of considerable enrich of fungi in the Pressmud. CONCLUSIONS Alkaline soils responded favourable to treatment with Pressmud and resulted in the improvement biological characteristics of the soil. Considerable improvement in microbial content in respect of Bacteria and Fungi was noticed Though the Pressmud improved almost biological properties of soil, Electrical conductivity crossed the threshold value at 4 MMhos/cm at higher dose of effluent, beyond 80ton/ha. Hence, the soil treated with 80ton/ha dose was selected as optimum quantity of pressmud.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 4, Issue 2, March - April (2013), IAEME REFERENCES 1. Atiyeh, R. M., Lee, S., Edwards, C.A., Arancon, N.Q, Metzger, J. D., (2002). The influence of humic acids derived from earthworms - processed organic wastes on plant growth. Bioresource Technology 84: 7-11. Chaoui, I., Zibiliske, M., Ohno, T., (2003). Effects of earthworm casts and Compost on soil microbial activity and plant nutrient availability.Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35: 295-302. FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World has been used as a basis for the development of the WRB in order to take advantage of the international soil correlation work Graff, O., 1981. Preliminary experiments by vermicomposting of different waste materials using Eudrillus eugineae Kinberg. In: Applehof, Mary, (Ed.), Proc. workshop on the role of earthworms in the stabilization of organic residues. Malmazoo, Michigan, pp. 179191. Informativo CAPEBE 06/12/2010 - Um patrimnio chamado solo. Disponvel em >http://www.capebe.org.br/informativo.php?id=355> Acesso em 13 de junho de 2011. Karthikeyan J and Ravi Kumar Reddy B 2005 reported on Effective utilization of nutrients in wastewater by controlled method of wastewater irrigation in Tirupathi, Chitoor district. Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Venkateswara college of Engineering, Tirupathi. Krishna kumara,* k. rupa kumar et al.,(2004). climate impacts on indian agriculture International Journal Of Climatology 24: 13751393 (2004) Klute, A.1986. Water retention laboratory methods. In: Klute, A. (ed.) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 1. Physical and Minerological Methods. 2nd ed.. Argon. Monogr., 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI, pp. 635 - 662. Parthasarathi, K., Ranganathan, L. S., (1999). Longevity of microbial and enzyme activities and their influence on NPK content in pressmud vermicasts. Europ. J. Soil Biol.,35 (3): 107-113. Sharma, S.D. and Jha, M.N. (1998). Barren sodic soils clothed green - Success story. ICFRE Pub. Forest Research Institute , Dehradun Vyavasaya Panchangam, 2005, Agricultural Information and Broadcasting center, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural university, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad-500 030. Zebarth, B. J., Neilsen, G. H., Hogue, E., Neilsen, D., (1999).Influence amendements faits de dechets organiques surcertains proprietes physiques et chimiques due sol.Canadian Journal Soil Sciences 79: 501- 504. Madan Mohan Reddy. K, Sivaramulu Naidu. D and Sanjeeva Rayudu. E, Studies on Recycled Aggregate Concrete by using Local Quarry Dust and Recycled Aggregates, International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology (IJCIET), Volume 3, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 322 - 326, ISSN Print: 0976 6308, ISSN Online: 0976 6316. M. Alhassan and I. L. Boiko, Effect of Vertical Cross-Sectional Shape of Foundation and Soil Reinforcement on Settlement and Bearing Capacity of Soils, International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology (IJCIET), Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 80 - 88, ISSN Print: 0976 6308, ISSN Online: 0976 6316.

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