IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v302y2024ics0378377424003470.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparative assessment of soil health attributes between topsoil and subsoil influenced by long-term wastewater irrigation

Author

Listed:
  • Rezapour, Salar
  • Asadzadeh, Farrokh
  • Heidari, Mohammad

Abstract

The reuse of wastewater (WW) for crop irrigation is increasingly recognized as an alternative to freshwater irrigation in arid and semi-arid regions. However, there is a significant gap in knowledge regarding the soil health index (SHI) and factors influencing topsoil and subsoil in cropland under long-term WW irrigation. This study aimed to comparatively assess soil health attributes between topsoil and subsoil in smallholder farmlands that have been irrigated with WW for over 50 years. This assessment utilized a combination of soil physico-chemical and fertility attributes, along with heavy metal concentrations. The soil health index (SHI) was developed using linear (SHI - L) and nonlinear (SHI - NL) models, based on the Total Data Set (TDS) and Minimum Data Set (MDS). Statistically significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were observed between topsoil and subsoil for the soil stability index (SSI), organic matter (SOM), calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE), electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), macro- and micronutrients, and heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Ni). In contrast, soil bulk density (BD), pH, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) did not show significant differences. The mean SHI - L and SHI - NL values ranged from 0.68 to 0.77 and 0.46–0.53 for topsoil, and from 0.66 to 0.74 and 0.45–0.51 for subsoil, respectively. The SHI values were higher in the topsoil, with increases ranging from 2.3 % to 7.1 % for SHI - L and 0.65–11.3 % for SHI - NL compared to the subsoil. The regression coefficients between SHIs and corn yield were higher in the topsoil (0.46–0.49) than in the subsoil (0.20–0.22). Furthermore, the SHI - NL model demonstrated greater precision than the SHI - L model in predicting corn yield in both soil depths. These findings highlight the effectiveness of SHI assessments, particularly the SHI - NL model, in analyzing changes in soil health indices with depth and their relationship with crop performance in long-term WW-irrigated smallholder farmlands. This research provides valuable insights into addressing soil health challenges in similar agricultural systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Rezapour, Salar & Asadzadeh, Farrokh & Heidari, Mohammad, 2024. "Comparative assessment of soil health attributes between topsoil and subsoil influenced by long-term wastewater irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:302:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424003470
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424003470
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2024.109012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asprilla-Echeverria, John, 2024. "How do farmers adapt to water scarcity? Evidence from field experiments," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 297(C).
    2. Batool, Fauzia & Hussain, M. Iftikhar & Nazar, Sonaina & Bashir, Humayun & Khan, Zafar Iqbal & Ahmad, Kafeel & Alnuwaiser, Maha Abdallah & Yang, Hsi-Hsien, 2023. "Potential of sewage irrigation for heavy metal contamination in soil–wheat grain system: Ecological risk and environmental fate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    3. Jalil, Hawzhin M. & Rezapour, Salar & Nouri, Amin & Joshi, Navneet, 2022. "Assessing the ecological and health implications of soil heavy metals in vegetable irrigated with wastewater in calcareous environments," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    4. Manzoor Qadir & Pay Drechsel & Blanca Jiménez Cisneros & Younggy Kim & Amit Pramanik & Praem Mehta & Oluwabusola Olaniyan, 2020. "Global and regional potential of wastewater as a water, nutrient and energy source," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 40-51, February.
    5. María Fernanda Jaramillo & Inés Restrepo, 2017. "Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture: A Review about Its Limitations and Benefits," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-19, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rezapour, Salar & Alamdari, Parisa & Kalavrouziotis, Ioannis K., 2023. "Response of soil health index to untreated wastewater irrigation in selected farms under different vegetable types," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    2. Alan Alvarez-Holguin & Gabriel Sosa-Perez & Omar Castor Ponce-Garcia & Carlos Rene Lara-Macias & Federico Villarreal-Guerrero & Carlos Gustavo Monzon-Burgos & Jesus Manuel Ochoa-Rivero, 2022. "The Impact of Treated Wastewater Irrigation on the Metabolism of Barley Grown in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Kledja Canaj & Andi Mehmeti & Julio Berbel, 2021. "The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Vasileios A. Tzanakakis & Andrea G. Capodaglio & Andreas N. Angelakis, 2023. "Insights into Global Water Reuse Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-30, August.
    5. Karel Mulder, 2019. "Future Options for Sewage and Drainage Systems Three Scenarios for Transitions and Continuity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Sina Shaddel & Hamidreza Bakhtiary-Davijany & Christian Kabbe & Farbod Dadgar & Stein W. Østerhus, 2019. "Sustainable Sewage Sludge Management: From Current Practices to Emerging Nutrient Recovery Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Sana Khalid & Muhammad Shahid & Natasha & Irshad Bibi & Tania Sarwar & Ali Haidar Shah & Nabeel Khan Niazi, 2018. "A Review of Environmental Contamination and Health Risk Assessment of Wastewater Use for Crop Irrigation with a Focus on Low and High-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-36, May.
    8. Drechsel, Pay & Qadir, M. & Galibourg, D., 2022. "The WHO guidelines for safe wastewater use in agriculture: a review of implementation challenges and possible solutions in the global south," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-14(6):864.
    9. Andi Mehmeti & Kledja Canaj, 2022. "Environmental Assessment of Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Irrigation: A Mini-Review of LCA Studies," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Jemal Fito & Stijn W. H. Hulle, 2021. "Wastewater reclamation and reuse potentials in agriculture: towards environmental sustainability," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 2949-2972, March.
    11. Grinshpan, Maayan & Turkeltaub, Tuvia & Furman, Alex & Raveh, Eran & Weisbrod, Noam, 2022. "On the use of orchards to support soil aquifer treatment systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    12. Alberto del Villar & Marcos García-López, 2023. "The Potential of Wastewater Reuse and the Role of Economic Valuation in the Pursuit of Sustainability: The Case of the Canal de Isabel II," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, January.
    13. Marzena Smol, 2023. "Circular Economy in Wastewater Treatment Plant—Water, Energy and Raw Materials Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Sara AbdelMoula & Mohamed T. Sorour & Samia A. Abdelrahman Aly, 2021. "Cost Analysis and Health Risk Assessment of Wastewater Reuse from Secondary and Tertiary Wastewater Treatment Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Radini, Serena & Marinelli, Enrico & Akyol, Çağrı & Eusebi, Anna Laura & Vasilaki, Vasileia & Mancini, Adriano & Frontoni, Emanuele & Bischetti, Gian Battista & Gandolfi, Claudio & Katsou, Evina & Fat, 2021. "Urban water-energy-food-climate nexus in integrated wastewater and reuse systems: Cyber-physical framework and innovations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    16. Ivanov, Bozhidar & Tsvyatkova, Daniela & Bachev, Hrabin, 2024. "Comparative Analysis of Sludge Utilization in Agriculture in Bulgaria and Selected European Union Countries," International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (IJAGST), SvedbergOpen, vol. 378(01), March.
    17. Ascioti, Fortunato A. & Mangano, Maria Cristina & Marcianò, Claudio & Sarà, Gianluca, 2022. "The sanitation service of seagrasses – Dependencies and implications for the estimation of avoided costs," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Brunno S. Cerozi & Caitlin G. Arlotta & Matthew L. Richardson, 2022. "Fish Effluent as a Source of Water and Nutrients for Sustainable Urban Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-6, November.
    19. Sandra Ricart & Rubén A. Villar-Navascués & Maria Hernández-Hernández & Antonio M. Rico-Amorós & Jorge Olcina-Cantos & Enrique Moltó-Mantero, 2021. "Extending Natural Limits to Address Water Scarcity? The Role of Non-Conventional Water Fluxes in Climate Change Adaptation Capacity: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-31, February.
    20. Salar Rezapour & Amin Nouri & Hawzhin M. Jalil & Shawn A. Hawkins & Scott B. Lukas, 2021. "Influence of Treated Wastewater Irrigation on Soil Nutritional-Chemical Attributes Using Soil Quality Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:302:y:2024:i:c:s0378377424003470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.