Two pot experiments were carried out at the Experimental Station of Vegetable and Floriculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University during the seasons of 2005 and 2006 to reveal the effect of irrigation with primary treated sanitary water (chlorinated and non-chlorinated) on growth, flowering, production and quality of the produced flowers, as well as, chemical composition of both bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae Ait.) and carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) plants grown in clayey soil under full sun conditions. Public hazards impact through the pathogenic indicator microorganisms and human parasites in water, plant, cut-flowers and soil were also evaluated.
The obtained results indicated that using of chlorinated sanitary water for irrigation of either bird-of-paradise or carnation plants significantly improved some parameters of vegetative growth, bird-of-paradise clump fresh and dry weights, only dry weight of carnation roots, as well as, inducing the greatest precocity in flowering of both plants, which was accompanied with some quality traits of the produced cut-flowers and increasing of vase-life. Moreover, the chemical constituents in the leaves of both plants and in bird-of-paradise rhizomes were significantly increased with few exceptions.
The pathogenic indicator bacteria (total and fecal coliform), salmonella & shigella and helminthes (Emobiae histylotica and ascaris ova) were not detected in the plants, resulted cut-flowers, beside the used water and soil due to chlorination treatment. On the other hand, the least means in all previously mentioned parameters were, in most cases, due to irrigation with non-chlorinated sanitary water, which led also to infection of the plants, the soil and the obtained cut-flowers with some pathogens and parasites.
So, to exploit the primary treated sanitary water for production of bird-of-paradise and carnation cut-flowers in a safe manner, it is necessary to chlorinate such water with 2.5 g Cl/m3 of water flow.