Recycling of organic-based wastewater for crop production has received
worldwide acceptability as a promising alternative to fertilizer use. Hence,
this research evaluated growth, yield and nutritional quality of tomato and
sweet pepper irrigated with abattoir wastewater (AWW) with the aim of
assessing recycling liquid effluent from slaughterhouses for crop
production. Each vegetable was cultivated in experimental pots irrigated
with 0 (control), 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% AWW. In tomato, AWW
improved plant height, number of branches and leaves, and relative growth
rate (RGR) with the maximum values recorded at 100% AWW. Root and
shoot dry mass, total biomass and root/shoot ratio were also increased in
plants treated with undiluted AWW. In sweet pepper, values of plant height,
number of leaves and branches, root length and RGR were higher under
AWW treatments than the control with peak values recorded at 100%
concentration. The root mass of sweet pepper was increased but the
root/shoot ratio was reduced at all AWW concentrations with the highest
impact found when AWW was not diluted. While AWW resulted in an
increased number of fruits in both crops with the best performance when
undiluted, the differences with control were only significant in tomato.
Fresh and dry mass of fruit was also significantly increased by AWW in
both crops with the highest values recorded at 100% concentration. AWW
increased fruit nutrient and heavy metal contents of both vegetables but this
increase was nonsignificant compared to control. In conclusion, the
application of 20-80% AWW is capable of increasing tomato and sweet
pepper production but growing them with undiluted AWW irrigation was
the most effective alternative source of fertilizers for improved growth,
yield and nutritional quality of vegetables.