Utilization of Flyash and Sludge of Mysore Paper Mills for Agriculture

Flyash is the main dust generated mainly from fluidized bed boilers, where coal is fired in a finely crushed form to improve the combustion efficiency. Sludge is a hazardous by-product which requires safe disposal either in landfill or incineration. These are the common waste generated mainly by thermal power plants and industries that cause un avoidable problems like ground water contamination, health hazards, environmental pollution etc., but by utilizing this waste for agriculture can reduce this problem to some extent and also it’s economically feasible. Pot experiments were conducted at 10%,20%,30%,40%,50%,70%,90%,100% treatment levels with flyash and (10% FA + 10% ss + 80% soil), (20% FA + 20% ss + 60% soil), and (50% ss + 50% soil) treatment levels with sludge generated by Mysore Paper Mills, located at Bhadravathi. Two types of soil i.e. black soil and red soil and Lycopersicon Esculentum (Tomato) were used for this study. The physic-chemical parameters, heavy metal analysis, growth parameters were analyzed and checked for plant growth. The use of flyash in soil improved the plant growth by increasing the physic-chemical properties of soil. The Lycopersicon Esculentum showed a positive growth up to 30% amendment with flyash whereas the usage of sewage sludge did not give satisfactory results in turn it hindered the growth of plant.