Journal of Environmental Biology

Growth, yield and metal residues in Solanum melongena 

grown in fly ash amended soils

 

D.P. Gond¹, Siddharth Singh², Amit Pal^1* and B.K. Tewary² 

¹Institute of Environment & Development Studies, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi – 284 128, India

² Environmental Management Division, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR), Dhanbad – 826 015, India

*Corresponding Author email : apu13@rediffmail.com

 

 

 

Publication Data

Paper received:

20 October 2010

 

Revised received:

18 November 2011

 

Accepted:

22 December 2011

 

Abstract

Fly ash from Chandrapura Thermal Power Station, Bokaro, Jharkhand (India) was used for amending soil at levels 0, 60, 120, 180 and 240  tons ha^-1 in which, brinjal (Solanum melongena) was grown and elemental residues of amended soil and plant parts were enumerated. Fly ash amendments caused significant improvement in soil quality, water holding capacity (52.64-65.76), pH (6.45-7.05), composition of photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid) and few growth parameters (fresh weight, root length, shoot length) of brinjal with the increase in fly ash amendments. Fruit (edible part) of plants grown in fly ash amended soils had metal residues (mg kg^-1) like Cr (0.80-1.16), Co (0.34-1.46), Ni (0.85-1.00), Zn (24.41-32.33), Cu (10.61-15.49), and Mo (0.49-1.46) within the permissible limits. Results indicate that soil amended with fly ash at 180 tons ha ^-1, not only improved the physical properties of the soil but also contributed to the better growth and yield of brinjal.

 

Key words

Soil, Metal residue, Thermal power station, Fly ash, Solanum melongena

 

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