Germination and Initial Growth of Sunflower Irrigated With Untreated and Treated (by Distillation and Electro-fenton) Landfill Leachate

Currently, water scarcity, especially in irrigated agriculture, has led researchers to study reuse to study industrial and sewage reuse. Landfill leachates deserve special attention due to its difficulty of tratment they are effluents that are difficult to treat and because it contains essential susbstances for plant nutrition, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and its application in agriculture can be considered a noble use if it is properly handled and does not cause phytotoxicity. This study investigated the effects of different dilutions of treated and non-treated landfill leachate on germination and vitality of sunflower seed (cv. BRS 321), its effects in growth,and vitality and soil atributes under sunflower culture in greenhouse. The leachate was treated by two electro-Fenton process or distillation. The results showed that sunflower cv. BRS 321 seeds, germinated vigorously up to 25% effluent dilution, showing resistance to salinity and phytotoxicity at 50% raw leachate dilution. 15% dillution showed satisfactory results in sunflower growth and nutrition. However the leachate use of higher concentrations showed some changes in soil characteristics. This study suggests that landfill leachate can be used in seed germination under proper use and application, in their lowest leachate concentrations and always based on the chemical analyzes of the leachate.