Research Journal of Recent Sciences _________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502 Vol. 4(3), 63-67, March (2015) Res.J.Recent Sci. International Science Congress Association 63 An Eco-friendly Method for Reducing the Risk of Fly Ash using Sesbania cannabina (Dhaincha) Nitisha Srivastava* and Girjesh Kumar Department of Botany, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211002, U. P., INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in , www.isca.me Received 28th March 2014, revised 8th April 2014, accepted 19th April 2014Abstract Fly-ash disposal has a signicant impact on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Present investigation has been carried out to study the effect of different fly ash amendment levels on growth of green manure crop Sesbania cannabina. Fly ash obtained from IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Limited), Phulpur, Allahabad, India was mixed with garden soil in four different concentrations i.e. 0% (control/garden soil), 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. A portion of the soil-fly ash mixtures was separated for physio-chemical properties. Dry and healthy seeds of Sesbania cannabina were soaked in water for 14 hrs and were sown in different amendment levels of fly ash in triplicates. Data for germination and survival percentages were taken after 15 and 30 days of sowing, respectively. Data for all morphological parameters were taken after 45 days of sowing. The result of present study concludes that the fly ash amendment in soil upto 75% has no adverse effect on the growth of Sesbania cannabina and it offers an eco-friendly method for removal of fly ash wastes from environment. Keywords: Fly-ash, Sesbaniacannabina, morphological parameters, plant growth. IntroductionIn India, coal red power plants produce 1.3× 10 tonnes of y-ash every year. The y-ash is generally not suitable for agriculture or for vegetation establishment due to its deciency of nitrogen and phosphorus, its low soil microbial activity, and its high pH. Although a small fraction of y-ash is now used in the manufacture of cement, bricks, land lling, fertilizer ll etc., these activities have not yet gained much attention. Most fly ashes are disposed of in landfills and surface impoundments like fly ash ponds and dykes, and only about 30% is used in construction, engineering, manufacturing, and agricultural activities and disposal of which may be harmful to residing organisms. Therefore it is important to know its effect on living beings and also the researches should be carried out for their proper disposal using eco-friendly methods. Fly ash is an amorphous mixture of ferroaluminosilicate minerals generated from the combustion of ground or powdered coal at 400-1500. Fly ash also contains metals in significant amounts, including arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, strontium, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. In addition, it has the primary nutrients like phosphate and potash and secondary nutrients like calcium, magnesium and sulfur as well as micronutrients like zinc, copper and manganese etc. Thus, fly ash may be regarded as a source of essential nutrients to the plants. Fly ash may act as a good conditioning material for agricultural uses. To study the efficacy of fly ash for reclamation of alkaline soil and to enhance bulk utilization of fly ash in the field of agriculture, IFFCO Phulpur has undertaken a RandD project with Fly Ash Mission, TIFAC, Dept. of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. Fly ash, on application in waste land / usar (alkali soil) improves soil fertility, lowers soil pH, changes soil texture, improves soil porosity and soil density and increases water holding capacity. It is by virtue of this and the ability of fly ash to modify the physical properties of soils, it works as a soil conditioner/ modifier enhancing the yield of the cereals, pulses, oil seeds, sugarcane, vegetables etc. A number of studies have shown that addition of alkaline ash can increase the pH of acidic soils6-9. In some cases, soils have been amended with fly ash in order to correct micronutrient deficiencies. Although the presence of toxic elements (Al, Pb, Cd, Cr, etc.) in the y-ash limits its application in the agricultural eld10. The phytoremediation technology is using plants to clean and rehabilitate such waste lands generated by y-ash (y-ash dykes) by suitable plantation. Sesbaniacannabina is a multipurpose leguminous crop generally used as green manure crop to increase soil fertility. It is cultivated almost in monsoon season and grows well in loamy, clayey, black and sandy soil. It grows well under waterlogged or un irrigated conditions, tolerant to high temperatures (36-44C), high soil alkalinity (pH 10) and establishes during rainy season in a wide variety of soils such as loamy, clayey, black and sandy soils11. It is a valuable green manure crop due to its fast growth, nitrogen fixation (by root and stem nodulation) and fast decomposition rates11. Therefore present study was undertaken to study the effect of different percentages of fly ash on morphological aspects of Sesbania pea and to study its tolerance and growth in fly ash amended soil, so it can be used to clean and rehabilitation programs to clean fly-ash dykes by planting it. Research Journal of Recent Sciences _____________________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502Vol. 4(3), 63-67, March (2015) Res.J.Recent Sci. International Science Congress Association 64 Material and Methods Fly ash used in present was obtained from IFFCO (Indian Farmers fertilizers Cooperative Limited), Phulpur. Fly ash was mixed with garden soil of Botany Department of University of Allahabad, in four different concentrations of fly ash i.e. 0% (control/garden soil), 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. A portion of the soil-fly ash mixtures was separated for physio-chemical properties. Presoaked seeds of Sesbaniacannabina were sown in their respective pots. Data for germination and survival percentages were taken after 15 and 30 days of sowing, respectively. Data for morphological parameters were taken after 45 days of sowing. Some morphological data were taken after maturity of plants. Results and Discussion Table 1 and 2 shows the physiochemical properties of fly ash used in present study and effect of different levels of fly ash amendment on PH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) of soil. Table-1 Physiochemical properties of fly ash used in present study Properties Fly Ash EC (µS/cm) 382.00 PH 7.9 Bulk density (gcm-1) 1.0 W.H.C. (%) 35-40 Porosity (%) 50-60 P (%) 0.03 K (%) 0.19-3.0 SiO2 (%) 42.00 Al2O3 (%) 19.60 Fe2O3 (%) 2.90 CaO (%) 1.52 MgO (%) 0.30 S (%) 0.02 Zn (ppm) 14-1000 Cu (ppm) 1-26 Mn (ppm) 100-3000 B (ppm) 46-618 Loss of ignition 0.5-3.0 Table-2 PH and EC (electrical conductivity) of different concentrations of soil and fly ash used in study Garden Soil + Fly Ash PH EC (µS/cm) Control (Garden soil) 8.55 175.20 25% Fly Ash+75% Garden soil 8.25 422.00 50% Fly Ash+ 50% Garden soil 8.15 469.00 75% Fly Ash+ 25% Garden soil 8.11 373.00 100% Fly Ash 7.9 382.00 Germination and Survival: The control set of garden soil and 25% fly ash exhibited 100% germination and 100% survival (table-3). In case of 50% fly ash amended soil germination was 100% while survival was 93.33%. The overall estimation of germination percentages illustrated that it was not much affected by fly ash amendment while survival was greatly affected in case of 100% fly ash. The plants sown in 100% fly ash survived only about 2 months and were with very significantly reduced biomass. This shows that sesbania pea can be easily grown in fly ash amended soil with 75% fly ash amendment as germination and survival were 93.33% and 80%, respectively. Table-3 Effect of different levels of Fly ash amendment on germination and survival percentages of Sesbania pea Fly Ash amenments Germination % (mean) Survival % (mean) Control 100 100 25% Fly Ash 100 100 50% Fly Ash 100 93.33 75% Fly Ash 93.33 80 100% Fly Ash 86.66 36.66 Morphological Parameters: Morphological traits such as plant height, stem girth, internode length, number of leaves/plant, leaf length, stem length after maturity, root length after maturity and pod length were taken into consideration. The ranges of mean, min. and max. have been calculated for each set and presented in table-4 and 5. Table-4 Effect of Fly ash amendment on morphological characters of SesbaniacannabinaFly ash Amendment Mean Min Max Plant height (cm) Control 84.80 70.00 95.00 25% Fly Ash 88.20 72.00 94.00 50% Fly Ash 91.80 83.00 102.00 75% Fly Ash 80.80 75.00 87.00 100% Fly Ash 30.00 25.00 35.00 Stem girth (cm) Control 3.26 2.90 3.50 25% Fly Ash 3.06 2.50 4.00 50% Fly Ash 2.44 1.70 3.30 75% Fly Ash 2.42 1.60 2.90 100% Fly Ash 0.76 0.65 0.90 Internode length (cm) Control 4.54 4.02 5.20 25% Fly Ash 5.83 4.42 6.72 50% Fly Ash 5.87 4.76 6.60 75% Fly Ash 6.75 6.20 7.20 100% Fly Ash 1.64 1.02 2.16 Number of leaves/plant Control 18.20 17.00 20.00 25% Fly Ash 17.80 14.00 20.00 50% Fly Ash 15.80 14.00 19.00 75% Fly Ash 15.00 13.00 19.00 100% Fly Ash 6.60 5.00 8.00 Table-5