Effects of Reclaimed Water Irrigation On The Soil Characteristics And Microbial Populations of Plant Rhizosphere

Abstract In this paper, the effects of irrigation with different water quality on the soil characteristics of 8 kinds of garden plants were analyzed. The results showed that soil pH (ranging at 7.76–8.73) had no significant difference in different soils compared with the contrast treatment. Under the reclaimed water irrigation, the content of soil total salinity, chloride ions and water soluble sodium in soil of most plants was averagely 160.3%, 83.3% and 67.5% higher than that of tap water, respectively. The influences of reclaimed water irrigation on soil nutrients were changed with the types of plants. The content of soil organic matter and the available potassium showed no significant differences in most plants. Compared with the tap water irrigation, the content of alkaline nitrogen in in 5 plants increased (averagely 25.8%) after 5-year irrigation with reclaimed water. In terms of soil microorganism, the increase of soil microbial population, including bacteria, fungus and Actinomycetes, has been promoted by different levels of reclaimed water irrigation, showing increasing trend with the increasing content of reclaimed water from 0%, 50–100%. Moreover, the number of bacteria and fugus is closely related with the content of soil organic matter, available potassium and effective phosphorus. However, the number of Actinomycetes is determined by the content of available potassium.