e-ISSN 2231-8542
ISSN 1511-3701
T. Mohd Hashim and A.R. Zaharah
Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science, Volume 17, Issue 2, August 1994
Keywords: 15N isotope, isotope dilution, palm oil mill effluent, N derived from POME, percent Nutilized from POME, percent 15N atom excess
Published on:
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is an organic waste material produced at the oil palm mills. In its raw form, POME is highly polluting due to its high content of biological and chemical oxygen demand. It must be treated before being discharged into the waterways. But in view of its high nutrient content, it can be recycled to the soil as a fertilizer for agricultural crops. Two nursery trials were conducted using oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) seedlings planted in polybags containing 8 kg Selangor series soil (Aerie Tropaquept) to evaluate the nitrogen contribution by POME applied to the soil. The trials were carried out for a period of 40 weeks using the nitrogen-15 isotope dilution technique. The nitrogen in the plants contributed by the POME at various times was calculated using the isotope dilution procedure described by Fried and Dean (1952). It was found that the amount of nitrogen contributed by POME in both the experiments ranged between 4.9 to 12.1 percent of the total nitrogen content of the POME applied. A higher N was utilized from POME that contained higher total solids.
ISSN 1511-3701
e-ISSN 2231-8542