Effect of Black Tea Wastes on some of soil Properties and Barley (Hordium vulgar L.) Growth and Yield

Abstract

The pots experiment carried out in the Saqlawiyah institute during the spring season 2008-2009 using sandy loam soil from Saddat Al-Falluja region. The soil was treated with black tea wastes (locally called "Bithil") with four treatments BT0 (control), TW1, TW2, TW3 with applications of 0%, 2%, 4%, and 6% respectively. Barley was planted for 65 days as a test crop. At the end of growth season, some of soil and plant properties had been measured. Generally, the treatments had a high significant effect in decreasing bulk density from 1.51 Mg.m-3 in TW0 to 1.27 Mg.m-3 in TW3 and a significant effect in increasing porosity from 41% to 50% for the TW0 and TW3 respectively. The treatments had also high significant effect in decreasing both the soil EC from 7.3 to 2.8 dS.m-1 for TW0 and TW3 respectively with negative correlation factor of – 0.98 and pH from 8.53 for TW0 to 7.59 for the treatment TW3. Tea wastes showed a high significant effect in increasing dry weight as average from 7.93 to 9.51 g.plant-1 for treatments TW0 and TW3 respectively with increasing ratio of 83%. The tillers number and the weight of 1000 seeds of the plant increased due to tea wastes application from 4 to 8 TPP (Tiller per Plant) and from 44.3g to 57.6 g for the treatments TW0 and TW3. The third treatment TW3 was the best in affecting soil properties and plant components.