Sustainable Upcycling of Mushroom Farm Wastewater through Cultivation of Two Water Ferns (<i>Azolla</i> spp.) in Stagnant and Flowing Tank Reactors
Pankaj Kumar,
Ebrahem M. Eid,
Mostafa A. Taher,
Mohamed H. E. El-Morsy,
Hanan E. M. Osman,
Dhafer A. Al-Bakre,
Bashir Adelodun,
Sami Abou Fayssal,
Željko Andabaka,
Madhumita Goala,
Jogendra Singh,
Sonika Kumari,
Ashish Kumar Arya,
Kyung Sook Choi,
Vinod Kumar,
Ivan Širić
Affiliations
Pankaj Kumar
Agro-Ecology and Pollution Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to Be University), Haridwar 249404, Uttarakhand, India
Ebrahem M. Eid
Biology Department, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61321, Saudi Arabia
Mostafa A. Taher
Biology Department, Faculty of Science and Arts, King Khalid University, Mohail Assir 61321, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed H. E. El-Morsy
Deanship of Scientific Research, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 24243, Saudi Arabia
Hanan E. M. Osman
Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Umm-Al-Qura University, Makkah 24243, Saudi Arabia
Dhafer A. Al-Bakre
Biology Department, College of Science, Tabuk University, Tabuk 47512, Saudi Arabia
Bashir Adelodun
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin 240103, Nigeria
Sami Abou Fayssal
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ohridski Blvd, 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria
Željko Andabaka
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Svetosimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Madhumita Goala
Nehru College, Pailapool, Affiliated Assam University, Silchar 788098, Assam, India
Jogendra Singh
Agro-Ecology and Pollution Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to Be University), Haridwar 249404, Uttarakhand, India
Sonika Kumari
Agro-Ecology and Pollution Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to Be University), Haridwar 249404, Uttarakhand, India
Ashish Kumar Arya
Department of Environmental Science, Graphic Era (Deemed to Be University), Dehradun 248002, Uttarakhand, India
Kyung Sook Choi
Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Vinod Kumar
Agro-Ecology and Pollution Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to Be University), Haridwar 249404, Uttarakhand, India
Ivan Širić
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Svetosimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Nowadays, the increase in the wastewater generated from the mushroom cultivation sector has become a serious environmental pollution concern. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the efficiency of two water ferns (Azolla pinnata and A. filiculoides) in phytoremediation of mushroom farm wastewater (MFW) under stagnant and flowing tank reactor systems. For this, the laboratory scale experiments were conducted using five treatments, i.e., control (absolute borewell water), S50 (15 L borewell water + 15 L MFW: stagnant mode), S100 (30 L MFW: stagnant mode), F50 (15 L borewell water + 15 L MFW: flowing mode), F100 (30 L MFW: flowing mode), separately for both Azolla spp. After 15 days, A. pinnata and A. filiculoides significantly (p Azolla spp. were also observed while using absolute MFW treatment in a flowing tank reactor system. Moreover, out of the two tested growth kinetic models, the logistic model showed better fitness to the experimental data and prediction of critical growth parameters compared to the modified Gompertz model. The findings of this study are novel and suggest sustainable upcycling of MFW using plant-based treatment techniques with the production of high-quality Azolla spp. biomass.
