Growth, SDH Activity and Microbiological Properties of Aubergine (Solanum melongena L.) crops Irrigated with Treated Wastewater from Casablanca city, Morocco

Abstract

Aubergine cultivation experiments were carried out at the Ain Chock Faculty of Science of the Hassan 2 University in Casablanca, to study the effect of potable water (PW), waste water (WW) and treated wastewater (TW) on aubergine crop production and on physico-chemical properties, SDH activity and microbiological properties of aubergine fruits. The aubergine growth was not significantly affected by different treatments. K+, NO3-, lipid, protein and Vitamin C content were insignificant in plant irrigated with TW compared with PW. For the microbiological results, no bacterial colonies of Faecal Streptococcus, Vibrio cholerae or Salmonella were identified in all the fruits studied for any irrigation system and total coliforms and fecal coliforms were below to acceptable limits for plant. The results of SDH activity showed that leaves presented higher activity compared to fruits and roots. Treated wastewater can be a resource for agricultural irrigation.