Assessment of the use of municipal and industrial wastes in agriculture

Agricultural usability of urban and industrial wastes was investigated in 2004 - 2006 in a pot experiment carried out in the vegetation hall. In the first year of the experiment maize was the test plant, oat grass in the second and oat in the third. The experimental design comprised 11 treatments differing with fertilizer and the kind of the supplied fertilizer components. The experiment used: mineral salts, farmyard manure, compost, municipal sewage sludge and industrial sewage sludge in two fertilizer doses. Metal concentrations in the test plants were diminishing in the following direction: oat grass < maize < oat. The lowest concentrations of the analyzed heavy metals were assessed in the plants fertilized with farmyard manure and compost (Zn, Cu). Among the tested plants the highest quantities of Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb and Cd were removed with the yield of the oat grass, then maize and oat. The highest uptake of Zn, Cu, Ni and Pb by plants was registered on a double dose of industrial sludge and Cd on a single dose of municipal sludge.