Sustainable Use of Sewage Sludge for Marigold (<i>Tagetes erecta</i> L.) Cultivation: Experimental and Predictive Modeling Studies on Heavy Metal Accumulation
Arwa A. AL-Huqail,
Pankaj Kumar,
Sami Abou Fayssal,
Bashir Adelodun,
Ivan Širić,
Madhumita Goala,
Kyung Sook Choi,
Mostafa A. Taher,
Aziza S. El-Kholy,
Ebrahem M. Eid
Affiliations
Arwa A. AL-Huqail
Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Pankaj Kumar
Agro-Ecology and Pollution Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to Be University), Haridwar 249404, India
Sami Abou Fayssal
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Forestry, 10 Kliment Ohridski Blvd., 1797 Sofia, Bulgaria
Bashir Adelodun
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin 240003, Nigeria
Ivan Širić
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Svetosimunska 25, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Madhumita Goala
Department of Environment Science, Graphic Era (Deemed to Be University), Dehradun 248002, India
Kyung Sook Choi
Department of Agricultural Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Mostafa A. Taher
Biology Department, Faculty of Science and Arts, King Khalid University, Mohail Assir 61321, Saudi Arabia
The present study aimed to investigate the impact of sewage sludge (SS) amendment on the growth, yield, and biochemical attributes of the marigold (Tagetes erecta L. var. Pusa Basanti Gainda) crop. For this purpose, marigold flowers were cultivated using three different treatments of SS, i.e., 0% (control with no SS), 5%, and 10%. Multiple linear regression (MLR) modeling was performed to develop prediction models for the impact of soil properties on heavy metals uptake by marigold plants. The results showed that the growth, yield, and biochemical attributes of marigold plants significantly (p 1) showed that the marigold plant was capable of uptaking significant contents of six heavy metals in the order of Cd R2 > 0.73), model efficiency (ME > 0.49), root mean square error (RMSE p < 0.05) results. Overall, this study presented a novel approach to floriculture by sustainable management of SS while reducing public health and environmental impacts.
