The Effects of Sewage Sludge on The Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Growing and Plant Nutrient Contents

Abstract

The basil with valuable volatile oils has significant importance as spice plant. Fresh or dry leaves and shoot of the plant use as spice.  Fresh basil is use for salads, vegetables and fish foods however dry basil is used for meat foods, soups, sweets and ice creams. Annual plant basil is grown in sandy-loam soils with rich organic matter. Sewage sludge contains some important plant nutrients for this reason it can be used as fertilizers. Also, in recent years sewage sludge is used for improving problematic soils. The most important point in use of sewage sludge is choosing of the right amount or ratio. Depends on the content in some cases the sewage sludge can be toxic to the plants. In the present study, we have used the sewage sludge for basil production. For this purpose, 5 different growing substrates were used; 1) Sewage sludge, 2) Garden soil, 3) Sewage sludge + garden soil, 4) Sewage sludge + garden soil + volcanic tuff, 5) Sewage sludge + volcanic tuff. The growing period was 10 weeks and plant growth parameters, plant nutrients contents in shoot and nitrate content in shoot were investigated.