REMEDEATIVE INFLUENCE OF SAWDUST IN DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ARSENIC PRESENT IN POTATO SOIL

Abstract

ABSTRACT A pot experiment was conducted at the Agronomy research field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka from November 2012 to February 2013, to find out the effects of sawdust and Arsenic on potato and evaluation of treatments for the identification of optimum sawdust level for minimizing the toxicity of As in potato tuber grown in As contaminated soil. The experiment included 4 sawdust levels viz., S (control), S 1 (10 g kg -1 soil), S 2 (50 g kg -1 soil), S 3 (100 g kg -1 soil) and 4 As levels viz., As 0 (control), As 1 ( 25 mg kg -1 soil) As 2 (50 mg kg -1 soil), As 3 (75 mg kg soil). The result revealed that all growth and yield contributing parameters positively responded with increasing sawdust levels except days to emergence and days to maturity, but quality parameters like tuber peel and flesh increased gradually with the increasing level of this treatment while opposite trend was observed for total soluble solids. The value of specific gravity increased up to S 1 (10 g sawdust kg -1 soil) and there after decreased with increasing sawdust levels. As content both peel and flesh decreased with increasing sawdust levels. The soil treated with S 3 (100 g sawdust kg -1 soil) reduced 51.44% and 86.41% As accumulation through tuber flesh and peel respectively compared to control (S ). Yield of potato gradually decreased with increasing of sawdust levels. The effect of As levels were also significant on growth, yield and quality contributing parameters viz.,

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-1 0 As content of potato peel and flesh, specific gravity of tuber. Yield of potato decreased with increasing As levels. As content of potato tuber flesh and peel gradually increased with increasing the As levels. As 3 (75 mg As kg -1 soil) level was found for the maximum accumulation of As in tuber peel and flesh. Among the treatment combinations, though As 1 S 1 produced little bit lower yield (430.4 g plant -1 ) compared to that of As (543.6 g ) plant 1 -1 , but potato produced from As 1 S 1 0 S accumulated lower amount As (0.15 mg kg soil) in potato flesh compared to those of other . Therefore, farmer can produced potato in 25 mg kg -1 contaminated soil treated with 10 g sawdust kg -1 soil with product contain lower safe content of As in their product. 0 -