J. Environ. Res.

30 (1): 21-42

Journal of Environmental Research

Journal homepage : http://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/aer

Effect of Fertilization to Environmental Quality

for Paddy Field

Krerk Pintrakool1, Pantawat Sampanpanish2,3,*

1
Inter-Department of Environmental Science, Chulalongkorn University
2
Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkork University
3
National Center of Excellence for Environmental and Hazardous Waste Management
*
Corresponding author: Email: Pantawat.s@chula.ac.th

Abstract
The impact of the use of various fertilizers namely; organic fertilizer (manure), commercial
biofertilizer (pellets), and chemical fertilizer, on soil and water quality including the accumulation
of heavy metals in rice grain was investigated. In addition, the cost of and rice yield from different
types of fertilizer have been compared. The results of heavy metals found in soil samples from the
4 periods of sampling are in the range of 2.12-15.30 and 211.78-334.00 mg/kg for arsenic (As) and
manganese (Mn), respectively. Experimental field used manure was accumulated As and Mn less
than every practices when the rice before harvesting. In water samples, only Mn was detected and
was in the range of 0.10-0.81 mg/l. Soil pH was found to be 4.79-6.62 and water pH was 6.21-8.37.
The levels of nitrate (No3-) and phosphate (PO43-) found in soil samples were 3.34-10.26 and 30.07-
55.36 mg/kg, respectively. For the water samples (No3-) and (PO43-) were 0.20-0.95 and 0.25-0.67
mg/l., respectively. The organic material (OM) in soil was 1.67-2.62 percent. The water quality
parameters were; DO 4.95-9.82 mg/l, BOD 1.61-25.76 mg/l., SS 17.50-992.67 mg/l, EC 99.40-
705.33 us/cm. Arsenic was not found to accumulate in rice grain. However, Mn was found in the
range of 55.97-58.83 and 84.63-137.00 mg/kg in the rice grain and rice husk, respectively. The
costs associated with each of the four experiments were 1,412 1,802 1,824 and 1,881 bath/rai,
respectively. The rice harvested from each experiment was 604, 510, 496 and 758 kg/rai. However,
using manure as the fertilizer was found to be the most cost-effective method and it has the least
effect on the quality of soil and water. Therefore, there should be further studies conducted to refine
such notion in order to achiever more accurate information.

Keywords: Organic fertilization; commercial biofertilizer; chemical fertilization; soil quality;

water quality, paddy field