The Uptake of Nutrients by Maize from Soil treated by Carbamazepine

Dawit Abate Yimer

Master's thesis

Abstract:

A pot experiment with maize plant and soil from Suchdol experimental field has been set up at the outdoor precipitation-controlled vegetation lobby, Department of Agro-environmental Chemistry and Plant Nutrition, Czech University of Life Sciences to investigate the effect of Carbamazepine (CBZ) on the yield and uptake of nutrient by the maize crops. The maize (Zea mays L.) was grown in 45 pots filled with a mixture of soil and CBZ. Eight maize plant was sown at the beginning and thinned to four at the 14 days after sowing, regularly irrigated to 60% of the respective soil maximum water holding capacity. Five treatments were set up in 9 replicates with a control, carbamazepine concentration (CBZ) of 0.1 ppb, 1 ppb, 10 ppb CBZ, and 1 ppm CBZ/5kg of dry soil. Among the nine replicates of each treatment, 3 of them were harvested at the 30 days after sowing (DAS), the other 3 at the 60 DAS, and the remaining at the maturity (90 DAS). With each harvest, a soil sample was collected to analyse plant available nutrients. Plant biomass was harvested separately, both fresh and dry weight of plant taken and the content of nutrient in the maize measured. The results showed no significant effect of CBZ on the maize biomass yield at all the three maize growing stages. However, the application of CBZ in the soil had a significant effect on the concentration of N in maize biomass, while no significant effect on the concentrations of P, K, and Mg. At the first maize harvesting time, the addition of 1ppm CBZ significantly decreased the concentration of N in maize biomass by 18.1 % as compared to the control. The findings also showed that the presence of CBZ in the soil had a significant impact on the uptake of N and K, while no significant effect on the uptake of P and Mg. The application of 1ppm and 1ppb CBZ reduced N uptake by 31.2 % and 44.1 %, respectively, in the first harvest. Additionally, the uptake of K decreased by 81.7% at the CBZ application rate of 1ppb CBZ. Furthermore, CBZ treatments induced a significant effect on the concentration of soil P and K. The addition of 1ppb CBZ significantly decreased the concentration of soil P by 12.4% at the first harvest. As a result, the addition of 1ppm CBZ treatment significantly reduced soil K concentration at third-round harvest, showing a decrease of 20.8% in comparison to the control. Therefore, based on our findings, Overall, we can conclude from our research that the addition of carbamazepine to soil can affect maize nutrient uptake and soil nutrient supply during the early growing stages at higher CBZ concentrations

Keywords

Carbamazepine, Nutrients, Interactions, Maize, Pharmaceuticals

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 27. 4. 2021

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: prof. Ing. Pavel Tlustoš, CSc. dr. h. c.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Master programme / field:
Natural Resources and Environment / Natural Resources and Environment