Effect of Municipal Sewage Sludge on Rooting of Grass Cuttings
1976
Burns, Robert E. | Boswell, F. C.
The availability of activated, digested, solid sewage sludge from municipalities at little or no cost suggests its possible use as a medium for sod production. Since most warm season sod is produced from vegetative material, and solid municipal sludge is available, the effect of this substrate on the rooting of grass cuttings should be evaluated. Due to the large difference found in quality of sludge from various disposal plants sludge from diverse sources should be compared. Cuttings of bermudagrass, ceatipedegrass, and zoysiagrass were rooted in activated, digested sludge from sewage plants serving an industrial area (I) and a residential area (R). The sludge from plant I had a much higher heavy metal content than that from plant R. The number of roots developed on bermudagrass cuttings rooted in I sludge was 80% of the cuttings rooted in R sludge and the total root length was 22% of those cuttings rooted in the R sludge. The difference between root production by centipedegrass cuttings in the two sludges was much greater than for bermudagrass. The effect of dilution of sludge with soil on root production was slight in comparison with the difference between soil and sludge. Both sludges were inferior to the soil controls as rooting media. The difference was greater when comparing the I sludge with soil than when comparing R sludge to soil. These data imply that the heavy metals in the I sludge may have retarded root formation on the grass cuttings since large differences in metal content of the two sludges were noted. Root primordia formation was reduced less than subsequent elongation of the roots.
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