Fish pond wastewater hydroponic treatment potential of <i>Citrullus colocynthis</i>

Abstract

C.colocyn this’ plant hydroponic treatment of fish pond’s wastewater (FPWW) was evaluated. The FPWW was collected from the University of Ilorin aquaculture and tested for the dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solid (TDS), temperature, pH and bacteriological content. The wastewater under treatment was tested for all the physicochemical parameters on weekly interval for the experimental period, while the bacteriological analysis was done before and after the treatment. The values obtained for the physicochemical parameters were statistically analyzed at p<0.05. The physicochemical results observed before application of C.colocynthis treatment technique were 25°C, 540μS/cm, 7.5, 270mg/l, 8.62mg/l, 22.65mg/l and 4.2mg/l for temperature, electrical conductivity, potential hydrogenation, total dissolved solid, 5-day BOD, COD, and the DO respectively. After the fifth week, the analysis of variance of the sample’s results showed that the electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, 5-day BOD and the COD were insignificantly reduced from 539 to 209μS/cm, from 270 to 102mg/l, 8.62 to 4.8mg/l and from 22.65 to 12.01mg/l respectively at P>0.05. The treatment efficiencies were observed to be 61.29%, 62.22%, 44.31% and 46.97% respectively. Also, the DO increased from 4.2 to 8.12 having percent increment of 93.33%, while the bacteriological analysis showed that FPWW has 215±35 colonies and 2.15±0.35×10⁷ Cfu/ml before the application of C.colocynthis hydroponic treatment and 83±18 colonies and 8.3±0.18× 10⁶ Cfu/ml after hydroponic treatment. The statistical results were insignificant but were within the limits of comparative standards.

Keywords: Wastewater, treatment plant, water analysis, fishpond