impact assessment of cultivating sunflower (helianthus annus l.) by treated municipal wastewater on growth, yield and soil properties

in this paper, the growth and yield of sunflower(helianthus annus l.) in addition to the soil properties are compared and assessed according to three irrigation types. it uses treated municipal wastewater, well water and their equal mixture for irrigation. for this purpose, pot trials are carried out in 4 months having 10 litres volume using completely randomized design with three times replications. experimental results verify that the dry weight and crop yield of sunflower are significantly higher by treated municipal wastewater. in details, the average of seed weight, plant height, capitulum diameter, and crop yield per pot are higher about 21%, 14%, 27%, and 40%, respectively. this is also observed that in the harvesting period, nitrogen, phosphor and potassium are significantly restored in the leaves, seeds, and stems, respectively. soil experiments approve that the quality degradation is not significant and conversely it becomes more fertilized. it finally points to the potential safe reuse of secondary treated wastewater however it is recommended to be mixed with well water for irrigation