Production components of sunflower plants irrigated with treated domestic wastewater and drinking water in semiarid region

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate production components of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) plants irrigated with domestic wastewaters treated by different processes, with two irrigation depths. The experiment was carried out in Ibimirim, state of Pernambuco, Brazil, using a randomized block design in a 4×2 factorial arrangement, with four replications. The treatments consisted of four irrigation water types (domestic wastewater treated by UASB reactor - DW1; domestic wastewater treated by digestion decanter and anaerobic filtration - DW2; domestic wastewater treated by anaerobic filtration - DW3; and public water - PW4) and two irrigation depths (equal to the crop evapotranspiration - ID1; and 20% higher than the crop evapotranspiration - ID2). The production components-plant fresh and dry weights, 1000-achene weight, capitulum internal diameter, achene yield, oil content, and oil yield-were evaluated at the end of the crop cycle. The irrigation with treated domestic wastewater improved all variables analyzed when compared to the drinking water, especially when using DW2 and DW3 with ID1.