Effect of marble industry effluent on seed germination, post germinative growth and productivity of Zea mays L.

A green house study was conducted at the University of Malakand, NWFP, Pakistan to evaluate the effect of marble industry effluent on soil pH, germination, post germinative growth and productivity of maize. The experiment was conducted in triplicate form for each treatment and tape water was used as control (T0). Effluents were diluted with tap water at concentration of 20% (T1), 40% (T2), 60% (T3), 80% (T4) and also used 100% (T5) concentration in 4 kg soil pot(-1) and plants were grown for 90 days. Results showed that there was a linear increase in pH of soil with increase in effluent concentration while germination, root length and stem girth was enhanced and found maximum at 40% concentration of effluent applied. The shoot length and root dry biomass was depressed as compared to control. It is concluded from the present study that marble industry effluent can be used as a fertilizer in low concentration especially for highly acidic soil but there is still need to carry out series of greenhouse and field trials to ascertain the fertilizer potentials of this effluent for maize crop.