Wastewater As a Partial Source of Nutrients for Growing Tomato Plants.

Water shortage is one of the major problems in agriculture. Recently, there has been a great deal of attention given to the use of low quality/wastewater for agricultural purposes in arid and semi-arid regions and the areas with limited water resources. This study was aimed to use wastewater as a partial source of nutrients in hydroponic culture for growing tomato plants. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block (RCB) design trial with three replications. Six treatments were used, including wastewater = WW (T1), Hoagland nutrient solution = NS (T2), ½NS + ½WW (T3), ¾NS + ¼WW (T4), roots in ½NS or ½WW, alternatively every 3 days (T5), and roots in ¾NS or ¼WW, alternatively every 3 days (T6). Data showed T3 and T5 treatments resulted in the highest fresh and dry matter (DM) weights of shoots and T1 and T2 had the lowest values. In regards to shoot fresh and DM weights, T4 and T6 were between the above two groups. The highest fresh and DM weights of roots were found in T6, and the lowest ones were resulted from T1 and T2 treatments. The rest of the treatments were between the above two groups.