Soil chemical parameters and microbiological quality of biquinho pepper irrigated with treated wastewater in protected environment

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the soil chemical parameters and microbiological quality of biquinho pepper fruits irrigated with treated wastewater and different irrigation depths. The experiment was carried out in protected environment with the application of four irrigation depths corresponding to 50, 75, 100 and 125% of the crop evapotranspiration with three concentrations of 0, 50 and 100% of treated wastewater in the cultivation of biquinho pepper in pots. The experimental design was in randomized blocks in a 3 x 4 factorial scheme, totaling 12 treatments, with three replications. The soil chemical parameters were determined before and after the growing the pepper with treated wastewater. Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) was estimated by the FAO Penman-Monteith method using data obtained from an Automatic Weather Station installed inside the protected environment. The microbiological quality was analyzed by quantifying fecal coliforms and the presence of Salmonella sp. recommended by Brazilian National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA). All pepper samples were in accordance with the limits recommended by the legislation and, therefore, the use of wastewater in pepper irrigation did not represent a risk to public health. The soil chemical parameters were changed in different ways after the application of the treated wastewater, being motivated by both soil and wastewater chemical characteristics.