Energy and Environment - Poster Display
http://doi.org/10.5339/qfarc.2018.EEPD434
The Influences of Produced Water Irrigation on Soil microbial
succession and Turfgrass Grass Establishment in Qatar
Mohammed H. Abu-Dieyeh*, Sameera S. Shaikh, Fatima Al Naemi, Mohammad Alghouti,
Talaat Ahmed Youssef
Qatar University
* dandelion@qu.edu.qa
The Influences of Produced Water Irrigation on Soil microbial succession and Turfgrass Grass
Establishment in Qatar Sameera S. Shaikh, Mohammed H. Abu-Dieyeh*, Fatima A. Al Naemi, Talaat
Ahmed, and Mohammad A. Alghouti Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College
of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University. *Corresponding author: dandelion@qu.edu.qa Abstract: Water
scarcity around the world has necessitated the use of alternative water resources such as wastewaters,
for irrigation purposes. Landscaped areas and turf grass systems provide varied environmental benefits
including phytoremediation, erosion control and mitigation of heat island effects. They also provide safe,
shady and cool places for athletic activities, exercise, and provide area for outdoor gatherings. Use of
wastewater for turfgrasses has been conceptualized in the last decades and applied in various parts of
the world. In this study, we attempted to use produced water (PW) to irrigate two turfgrass species,
Cynodon dactylon and Paspalum sp., which are grown in local parks, green spaces and roadsides in Doha,
Qatar. Effect of PW irrigation on established grasses, microbial succession, heavy metal accumulation and
germination tests for weeds and turf grass seeds were investigated in greenhouse and field experiments.
The two species of grass tested - C. dactylon and Paspalum sp. depicted different tolerance capacities
towards PW. C. dactylon showed lower tolerance while Paspalum sp. depicted better tolerance capacity
towards PW. C. dactylon grown from seeds under greenhouse conditions were not able to tolerate more
than 30% concentration of PW. In comparison to tap water irrigated turfgrass, Paspalum sp. was found
© 2018 The Author(s), licensee HBKU Press. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article as: Abu-Dieyeh M et al. (2018). The Influences of
Produced Water Irrigation on Soil microbial succession and Turfgrass
Grass Establishment in Qatar. Qatar Foundation Annual Research
Conference Proceedings 2018: EEPD434
http://doi.org/10.5339/qfarc.2018.EEPD434.
The statements and opinions contained in the publication are solely those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. HBKU Press does not
accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
to accumulate higher concentrations of V and Pb in shoots and Cr, Ni and As in roots. For soil microbial
succession studies, results from greenhouse experiment, using Cynodon dactylon turfgrass and after
14-weeks of produced water irrigation regimes, showed a significant reduction in bacterial colony forming
units (CFU) at all produced water treatments compared with tap water irrigation. However, a significant
increase through time in CFU occurred in all treatments. It was observed that PW irrigation caused
changes in fungal species present in PW irrigated soil. The study of fungal succession in soil showed
presence of certain species in 10%PW-30%PW treated soil that were absent in soil treated with tap water.
Based on germination tests it was recommended that irrigation with PW be performed after turf grass
establishment. Studies on weed germination suggested that PW could discourage growth of weeds -
Amaranthus viridis and Launaea mucronata while promote growth of Chloris virgata. Based on the study
conducted, it is suggested that PW could be used as alternative water resource to grow some species,
but only after further research is conducted on the long term to assess any environmental toxicity. Key
words: Waste water; Produced water; Turfgrass; Arid land; soil microbiota; salinity stress.
______________________________________________________________________________
Acknowledgement: This research was made possible by TOTAL, Qatar grant. The statements made herein
are solely the responsibility of the authors.
