Influence of agricultural effluent irrigation on common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) and garden basil (Ocimum basilicum L.): preliminary results

The agricultural costs can be reduced with waste water application. The effect of water quality was tested on several parameters of purslane and basil. Four treatments were applied (Irr0: non-irrigated control; Irr1: effluent water from an intensive African catfish farm; Irr2: diluted effluent water with gypsum; Irr3: Körös-oxbow lake water as irrigated control). Completely random sampling was used, ten plants were measured per treatment. For basil the benefical effects of Irr3 irrigation were detected; there were significant differences among the treatments. The highest values of the parameters were in Irr3: plant height (47.96 cm), root length (23.22 cm), biomass (164 g plant-1, fresh floral shoot tip (85.56 g plant-1), fresh stem (78.44 g plant-1) and fresh root weight (9.38 g plant-1). At basil very strong positive correlation was evinced between the biomass, and fresh root weight (p=0.01; Pearson’s r=0.87). The significantly more yield was achieved by irrigation on basil. Irrigation with undiluted effluent water (Irr1: biomass: 124.50 g/plant) is similarly effective to increase yield, as in Irr3.