Recycling of Wastewater from Pig Farms in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture

SUPAMARD PANICHSAKPATANA

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Recycling of Wastewater from Pig Farms in Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture

Supamard Panichsakpatana

ABSTRACT Urbanisation is the main cause of change in cropping pattern in the Central part of Thailand. The provinces where farm lands occupy on more than 15%, such as Bangkok and Samut Prakarn, land use is changing from the rice paddy to ornament plants and vegetables. In the areas where agricultural land exceed 50% of the total land area, like Chachoensao and Nakhon Pathom, most of the farm lands are vegetables and orchards besides rice fields. In peri-urban area, the main agricultural activities turn to be livestock production and aquaculture. Most of the livestock here are monogastrics especially pig and poultry since they are not roughage dependants and more efficient in feed conversion. The serious problems in this case turn to be the wastes and the

wastewater from farm lands and their contamination of nitrate and salinity to the surface and the ground water. Management of the wastewater as fertilizer and fertigation was presented in this paper. The wastewater could replace chemical fertilizers as much as 80-100% of the application rate depending on type of growing crops. For example, it could replace up to 100% of the chemical fertilizers at the recommended rate of the chemical N for corn, sweet corn, Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq), sugar cane, and cassava at 62.5, 93.75, 156, 93.75, and 112.5 kg N.ha-1, respectively. Better yield and nutrients of the crops were generally observed in the combination treatment of the half dose of the chemical N + the wastewater. In vegetable, such as Chinese green mustard (Brassica campetris ssp chinensis var parachinensis (Bailey) and/or Pak-choy, (Brassica campetris var chinensis), application of the wastewater could give the yield 80-100% as much as those treated with chemical N. Application of the concentrate wastewater could replace some amount of water consumption of the crops. For instance, the wastewater at the above

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recommended rate could replace the irrigation water as much as 220,000 to 440,000, 187,500 to 375,000 and 380,000 to 760,000 litres.ha-1 in one season of corn, Chinese green mustard and sugar cane respectively. Fertigation of the crops could be done for the whole season by mixing the wastewater with the irrigation water to reach the concentration about 100 mgN.L-1. At the above recommended rate, there was no evidence of nitrate contamination in the ground water. There was no evidence of zinc and copper accumulation in the tested crops and in the soils though the treated soils were very sandy in texture and the ground water level was shallow. There were high amount of coliform bacteria (540,000 MPN.100 ml-1) and E. Coli (1.2 x 103 CFU.ml-1) in the wastewater. Hookworms and threadworms (Strongyloides stercoralis) were found in both soils treated and untreated with the wastewater but they were not found in the treated crops.

Keywords: wastewater, urban and peri-urban agriculture, nitrate contamination, fertigation, pig farm, water pollution

RECENT CHANGES IN CROPPING PATTERN AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

Urban Agriculture The big cities with the population over 1 million have been increased rapidly during the last decades resulting in increasing of food production in the area. With this phenomenon, great impacts on natural resources, especially land and water, have been occurred. According to UN World Water Development Report, water quality is declining in most global regions. The problem is obvious in urban and peri-urban areas where half of the world population will be living in by 2007. By 2030, towns and cities will have risen to nearly two thirds, resulting in drastic increases in water demand in the areas. When rural areas turn into towns, agricultural patterns have been gradually changed into urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). The rice field decreases in proportion with the population density. The land has been used with more mixed crops instead of the rice monoculture. High valued cropping such as ornamental planting is replacing the rice planting. Vegetable fields and orchards are replacing rice fields as well. For example in Bangkok plain during the year 1989 to 1995, vegetable areas increased by more than 35% when fruit trees increased by about 20%

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whereas paddy lands decreased by 2.7% and sugarcane by 3.4% (Saridnirun and Pages, 1999). The effect of urbanisation on the farm land is illustrated in Table 1 and 2 and Fig. 1. Bangkok and its vicinity comprise 7 provinces. Bangkok and Samut Prakarn are the most crowded areas. Population density in the areas exceeds 1,000 persons.km-2 (Table 2) resulting in the farm land occupies no more than 15% of the total land areas. These provinces focus the agricultural field into ornamental plants and vegetables (Table 3). In the areas where agricultural land exceeds 50% like Chachoengsao and Nakhon Pathom, most of the farm lands are vegetables and orchards besides the rice field. Table 1 Land use in urban agriculture
Total area Provinces Chachoengsao Nakhon Pathom Nonthaburi Pathumthani Bangkok Samut Prakarn Samut Sakhorn (ha) 237,042 221,009 142,715 150,224 156,609 97,042 86,355 Agricultural area (ha) 205,352 111,864 31,384 68,884 21,276 8,614 22,500 Ratio Agric/Total 0.87 0.51 0.22 0.46 0.14 0.09 0.26

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative, 1998

Table 2 : Population density in Bangkok and vicinity

Provinces Chachoengsao Nakhon Pathom Nonthaburi Pathumthani Bangkok Samut Prakarn Samut Sakhorn
Source: National Census 2000

Total area (ha) 237,042 221,009 142,715 150,224 156,609 97,042 86,355

Population 632,533 809,062 810,254 690,402 6,320,174 1,014,449 457,078

density ind/km 266.8 366.1 567.7 453.6 4,035.6 1,045.4 529.3

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Calculation was based on data from Table 1 VS Table 2.

ratio of agricultural land 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.40 0.20 1,000. 0 2,000. 3,000. 4,000. 5,000. 0 0 0 0

population density (ind/km 2)

Figure 1 Relationship between population density and ratio of the farm land. Table 3 Comparative crops area at provincial level (1998)
% area Chachoengsao Nakhon Pathom Nonthaburi Pathumthani Samut Prakarn Samut Sakhorn Bangkok Total area (ha) Rice 38 24 8 19 2 1 8 480,307 Vegetables 7 51 11 12 12 3 4 20,401 fruits 31 23 7 19 7 9 3 96,115 perennial 54 11 2 1 17 13 1 39,119 ornamentals 1 39 19 1 15 25 5, 014

Source: Chunnasit et al., 2000

Peri-urban Agriculture In urban agriculture, excess of nutrients (especially N and P) are considerably less since the main nutrient loss will occur only by way of discarding the agricultural wastes. In fact, many portions of wastes are recycled through various means. For example, vegetable wastes will be used for animal feeding. Some may be used for composting. However, there are much nutrients imported into the system. For example, vegetable production in this area covers 2,500 ha. With this amount of production, the amount of 250, 250, and 300 t.year-1 of the nutrients N, P2O5, and K2O in the form of chemical fertilizers are imported to the system, respectively. Besides the chemical fertilizers, 3,000 t of duck waste, 500 t of peanut residue, and over 1,000 t of farm compost are incorporated into the crop production as well (Duangngam and Pages, 2000). By the loss of these nutrients, the ground and the surface waters in the area might be contaminated with N, P, and the pesticides using in the vegetable production.

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Peri-urban agriculture has another scenario. In peri-urban area, the main agricultural activities turn to be livestock production and aquaculture. Most of the livestock here are monogastrics especially pig and poultry since they are not roughage dependants and more efficient in feed conversion. To profit from economies of scale and to be near the market for their perishable products, the new pig and poultry production is often based on large industrialised units close to urban agglomerations. These units often have not enough knowledge to manage the livestock excreta on their own farm. It therefore has to be discharged directly to water courses or is lost through non-existing or insufficient handling facilities (leaching, run-off, overflow of lagoons etc.) which results in a high pressure to the environment. The serious problems in this case turn to be the wastes and the wastewater from farm land and their contamination of nitrate and salinity to the surface and the ground water. UPA such as aquaculture and livestock production produce large amount of wastewater that becomes the major sources of water contamination since livestock excretes 70 to over 90% of the nutrient N, P, K and heavy metals taken up in the feed. For instance Thachin River, less than 50 km from Bangkok, an affluent tributary of Chao Phraya River, was ranked the most polluted river in Thailand from the year 2000 to 2002. This was caused by the wastewaters from pig farms and industrial plants.

WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AND PERI-URBAN AGRICULTURE

Wastewater from stationary ponds The author set the experiments for investigating wastewater management in Chol Buri and Rayong provinces located around 100-150 km east of Bangkok. The sites were situated in Bang Pakong River Basin where the production of pig, poultry and fish are accounted for 25%, 32% and 58% of the total production in Thailand, respectively (Panichsakpatana, 2003). Since the area is under the export promotion program by the Thai Government, it can be expected that the pig production will rise sharply and may reach two folds of the present figure in the next 10 years. At present, the excessive populations of the livestock make the overloads of N (264%), P (413%) and K (279%) in some districts of the region. The contamination of the wastewater in Bang Pakong River has already occurred in some regions. Since Cu and Zn are used as food additives for pigs, the two elements might contaminate to the soil and the river as well (Harada et al., 1993). The soil in PK farm in Chol Buri province was Sathon series (Stn): fineloamy, mixed, semiactive, isohyperthermic Typic Plinthaquults. The soil in NR farm in Rayong province was classified as Chalong, coarse loamy variant (Chl-co): coarseloamy, kaolinitic, isohyperthermic Typic Kandiudults. The wastewater from the PK farm was from the pregnant sows whereas that from the NR farm was from the fatteners. The analysis of the wastewater using in this trial was as follows: -

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Total N

NH4-N (mg.L )
-1

NO3-N 0-3.5 (2)

0-4.2 (2)

PK farm
NR farm

209-385 (297)
175-385 (228)

165-230 (189)
150-210 (180)

The figures in the parentheses were the average values for the corresponding items. With the estimation from the mean values, the wastewater from the pregnant sows contained 65% inorganic-N whereas that from the fatteners contained the inorganic-N as much as 80% of the total-N. Five kinds of crop namely cereal, sugar, vegetable, oil and tuber crops were chosen for the field experiments. They were corn, sugar cane, Chinese green mustard (Brassica campetris ssp chinensis var parachinensis (Bailey), (CGM), oil palm and cassava. Corn, sugar cane and Chinese green mustard were planted in PK farm whereas oil palm and cassava were planted in NR farm. All the experiments except that of oil palm were conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 4 replications. There were 6 treatments for testing of corn and sugar cane and 5 treatments for Chinese green mustard. The treatments were as follows: T1 : no chemical fertilizer, no wastewater T2 : Nitrogen fertilizer T3 : Chemical fertilizer N-P-K T4 : Wastewater, low rate, WWL: (using Total-N for calculation with T2 rate) T5 : Wastewater, high rate, WWH: (double rate of T4) T6 : Wastewater + Chemical fertilizer (T4 + 1/2T3) The N rate used in T2 and the chemical rate in T3 were the rates recommended by the Department of Agricultural Extension, The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. There was no sole treatment of nitrogen fertilizer in the experiment of Chinese green mustard. The experiments in the pregnant sows farm 1. Nitrogen mineralization of the wastewater in the soils The laboratory experiment was conducted to test N mineralization of the waste water. Urea was used as the standard treatment. It was found that the wastewater showed its benefit better than urea (Fig.2). The NH4-N from the wastewater was available immediately after applying it to the soil whereas no available N was observed at the day of urea application (67.2 VS 33.6 mg N. kg-1). Nitrification in the soil receiving the wastewater occurred after 3 days of applying the wastewater. At the later period, mineralization of urea and the wastewater appeared in the same manner of its rate and magnitude. The wastewater supplied nitrogen to the soil more or less the same amount and as fast as the urea did. Regardless to its harmful effects, it could be used as the liquid fertilizer in this case.

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2. The efficiency of wastewater as the fertilizer for crops The rates of chemical fertilizers and wastewater were shown in Table 4. There was no N-fertilizer treatment in the CGM experiment. In the wastewater treatments, calculation of the application rates was based on the rate of N-fertilizer and the total N content in the wastewater. It was then designed as the wastewater at low rate (WWL) since the total N could gave the inorganic N only 65 to 80% according to the previously analytical results. The rate of wastewater in the WWH treatment was 2 x WWL since the fertilizer application in the recommended rate was still low for the optimum growth of the crops. Table 4 Fertilizer rates (kgN.rai-1) using in the experiments
Treatments N-fertilizer Chem. N-P-K WWL
Note: 6.25 rai = 1 hectare

Corn 10 10-5-5 10

Vegetable (CGM) 12-8-8 12

Sugar cane 15 15-15-15 15

The effects of wastewater and chemical fertilizer on the crop yields were clearly observed in the corn experiment (Table 5). With the application of chemical fertilizer, either N alone or N-P-K, the plants could produce the yield significantly higher than those grown with no treatment. Application of wastewater at low rate was found to enhance the corn yield slightly. When the plants received the wastewater at the higher rate, they gave the yield significantly higher than those grown in the control plot. With combination of chemical fertilizer and the wastewater, the plants could gave the seed yield as much as 1,109 kg.rai-1 comparing to 744 kg.rai-1 of those with no application of the fertilizer and the wastewater. There was no significantly difference in yield among the fertilizer treatment and the wastewater treatments. Table 5 Yield of the crops growing in PK farm in Chol Buri (year 2002) Treatments Corn (kg.rai ) Control N-fertilizer N-P-K WWL WWH WWL+1/2(N-P-K) CV (%) F-test
Note: 6.25 rai = 1 hectare
-1

Vegetables (CGM)
2

Sugar cane

(kg fresh wt/8x8m plot) (kg.rai-1) 24.70 b 39.18 a 31.91 ab 33.23 a 37.51 a 14.4 * 17,432 a 20,075 a 19,292 a 18,108 a 19,331 a 20,210 a 9.4 ns

744 b 973 a 997 a 910 ab 957 a 1,109 a 13.5 *

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In the vegetable experiment, the yield of Chinese green mustard was 24.7 kg in the control plot (Table 5). With the wastewater application, the plant yield significantly increased to 32 33 kg. The figures might not be different much in statistic but it would cost some considerably value for the farmers income in the sense that more value could be obtained from the increased yield with less wastewater to be managed. With the chemical N-P-K application, the plant yield could reach 39 kg. In other words, the wastewater enhanced the plant growth and yield as effective as 82 to 84% of the chemical fertilizer at the treated rates. Since the land for planting sugar cane was applied with fertilizers before, the effect of the treatments on the cane yield was not clearly observed in the first planting season. Regardless to the statistical difference, application of the wastewater could increase the sugar cane yield as much as 0.7 to 1 ton per rai (4.3 to 6.3 ton per hectare). Application of less chemical fertilizer together with the wastewater, could get the yield increase as much as nearly 3 ton per rai (18.8 ton per hectare). Better response of the crop to the wastewater is expected in the next ratooning season. The experiments in the fatteners farm The wastewater from pig farms could be used as nutrient source for oil palms. It released the inorganic N as the same time and amount as that of urea. It could replace chemical fertilizer as much as 0.5-0.3-0.9 kg N-P2O5-K2O.plant -1year-1. With this rate of application, the oil palm in the wastewater treated plots could uptake the plant nutrients such as N, P, K, Mg, Cu and Zn the same amount as those in the chemical fertilizer treated ones. Furthermore, the oil palm could produce its oil content as high as when it received the chemical fertilizer (Table 6).

The wastewater supplied nutrients for cassava as much as the chemical N-P-K at the rate of 18 - 7.5 7.5 kg N P2O5 K2O.rai-1. The advantage of the wastewater was that it could produce starch slightly higher than the chemical fertilizer could. With combination of the wastewater and the chemical fertilizer, the above ground portion of cassava became very healthy comparing to the control one (Table 7)

Figure 2 N-m ineralization of the w astew in PK farm ater

80 N 4( gN k ) H m . g 60 40 20 0 0 3
1

67.2 33.6 32.2

66.5 59.5

14

10.5 7

14 10.5 14

Days of I ncubation

Control

Wastewater

Urea

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N-mineralization of the w astewater in PK farm

120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 112 108.5

105 98

N 3 ( gN k . ) O m . g

45.5 42 42

49

56 45.5 35

54.2

Days of I ncubation

14

Control

Wastewater

Urea

Contamination of NO3, Cu, Zn and human pathogen In order to analyze NO3-N, the ground water was collected a week after every application of the wastewater in the experimental fields. For tracing the harmful effects of Cu and Zn, the wastewater, the soils and the crops were collected and analyzed. The results showed that there was no nitrate contamination in the ground water at the application rate of the wastewater (Figure 3). The contents of Cu, Zn and NO3-N in the crops treated with the wastewater were not higher than that treated with the chemical fertilizers. There were high amount of coliform bacteria (540,000 MPN.100 mL-1) and E. coli (1.2 x 103 CFU.mL-1) in the wastewater. Human parasites were not found in the wastewater and in Chinese green mustard. The hookworms and the threadworms (Strongyloides stercoralis) were found in both soils treated and untreated with the wastewater.
Table 6 Yield of oil palm (gm.plant-1) Rate of wastewater Low (M1) S1 : none S2 : N-P-K S3 : K 16,495.7 a 12,185.9 a 13,358.9 a High (M2) 14,130.9 a 7,839.9 a 11,746.0 a 15,313.3 a 10,012.9 b 12,552.4 ab (first year) Mean

Chemical fertilizers

Mean CV(%) (M) CV(%) (S)

14,013.5 a 24.5 20.7

11,239.0 a F-Test (M) F-Test (S) F-Test S x M N-P-K (without wastewater) Control ns ** ns 14,769.3 8,975.0 (second year)

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Chemical fertilizers

Rate of wastewater Low (M1) High (M2) 29,230.2 a 19,479.4 b 24,968.6 ab

Mean

S1 : none S2 : N-P-K S3 : K

18,611.5 a 22,838.3 a 22,690.3 a

23,920.8 a 21,158.8 a 23,829.5 a

Mean CV(%) (M) CV(%) (S)

21,380.1 a 27.9 20.2

24,559.4 a F-Test (M) F-Test (S) F-Test M x S N-P-K (without wastewater) Control ns ns * 21,059.7 15,596.0

Note:

1. The experiment was set as Split plot design (M = main plot; S = sub-plot)

2. Means in any one column not followed by a common letter are significantly different at 0.05 probability

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EC of groundw er at
0.45 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Tim es

Control M2S1 M2S3 Fert. canal

dS.m -

Am oniumN in groundw er m at
4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Tim es

m N 4N g H - .L

Control M2S1 M2S3 Fert. canal

N rat N in groundw er it eat

6.00 5.00 m N - .L g O3 N 4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Tim es Control M2S1 M2S3 Fert. canal

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Figure 3 EC and the contents of ammonium and nitrate in ground water Table 7 Growth and yield of cassava
Treatments
-1 (kg.rai )

Root weight

%starch -1 (kg.rai )

stem+leaf

weight

T1 : control T2 : Chem fertilizer N-P-K

(18-7.5-7.5 kg N-P2O5-K2O.rai-1)

4,157b 6,064a 4,834b 5,030ab 5,225ab 5,209ab 14.0 *

24.5a 20.5a 23.0a 23.3a 22.5a 22.6a 7.4 ns

617a 633a 661a 593a 674a 731a 14.2 ns

T3 : Chem fertilizer N-P-K

(12-6-12 kgN-P2O5-K2O.rai-1)

T4 : WWL T5 : WWH T6 : (T4 + 1/2 T3) CV (%) F-Test

Note: 6.25 rai = 1 hectare

Means in any one column not followed by a common letter are significantly different at 0.05 probability

Wastewater from biogas production Biogas production from animal wastes is quite common in temperate countries since it can be used to produce heat or electricity during winter. In tropical countries like Thailand, not so many animal farms adopt the biogas production. This might be because of the high cost of biogas plant. Normally, the effluent from biogas production (EFB) contains fewer nutrients than the wastewater from the stationary ponds. In the author experiments, it chemical properties (in average) were pH 7.5, EC 1.6 mS.cm-1, BOD 23 mg.L-1. The contents of total N, total P, total K, total Mg, total Ca, total Na, total Zn, and total Cu were 68-98, 21, 50, 23, 20, 60, 0.1, and 0.1 mgN.L-1, respectively. Judging from its chemical properties and nutrient contents, EFB could be the good source of N and K for crop production. The EFB could produce crop yield equivalent to 156 and 93.75 kg N.ha-1 of chemical fertilizer for Guinea grass and sweet corn, respectively (Fig. 4 and Table 8). In case of vegetable, the yield of Pak-choy in EFB plot was equivalent to 85% of that in the (125 kg N.ha-1) CF plot where as the EFB + CF could produce crop yield comparable to that produced by the CF. (Fig. 5).

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Figure 4 Y ield of Guinea grass

4,000 3,500 3,000

kg.rai

2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 Control EFB 1/2EFB+1/2CF

1st crop 2nd crop 3rd crop

3rd crop 2nd crop 1st crop CF

Source: Panichsakpatana (1995a)

F igure 5 Y of Pak-choy (Brassica cam ield petris var chinensis)

7,000 6,000 5,000

k g.ra i-

4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 C ontrol EFB 1/2EFB+1/2C F C F

3rd crop 2nd crop 1st crop

1st crop 2nd crop 3rd crop

Source: Panichsakpatana (1995c)

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Table 8 Ear size and sugar content of sweet corn

Treatments Ear circumference Ear length Sugar content (cm) Control Chem Fert (CF) Eff. Biogas (EFB) EFB+ CF F-test % CV 12.63b 13.73a 13.76a 13.22ab * 3.37 (cm) 20.23 19.90 21.41 20.59 ns 5.80 (brix) 14.78 15.25 15.28 15.42 ns 2.16

Source: Panichsakpatana (1995b) Means in any one column not followed by a common letter are significantly different at 0.05 probability

The wastewater as fertilizer and irrigation water In the pig production areas, wastewater from the pig farms is the main source of water pollution. Bang Pakong river near Chol Buri (CBR) province and Tachin river near Kamphaeng Saen (KPS) district are heavily polluted with the wastewater from the pig farms. In order to reduce the BOD in the wastewater, many pig farms in Kamphaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom province produce biogas from the wastewater. The effluent from the biogas production contained total N in the range of 68-98 mg N.L-1 with BOD of 25 mg.L-1. With the low content of nitrogen in the wastewater of the biogas case, the wastewater could substitute irrigation water for the whole planting period of Guinea grass and vegetable (Pak-choy, Brassica campestris var chinensis) whereas it could replace irrigation water as much as 175,000 L.ha-1. week-1 in planting sweet corn, or 1,225,000 L.ha-1 in one growing season (Table 9). The wastewater from the stationary ponds contained total N higher than that from the EFB. Its concentration was in the range of 175-385 mgN.L-1 (with the average of 228 and 297 mgN.L-1). With high N content in the wastewater, the amount of the wastewater applied for corn and vegetable was about one third of that from the biogas production applied for the corresponding crops. With the results from these experiments, it could be recommended that fertigation could be done for the whole season of the crops by mixing the wastewater with the irrigation water to have the concentration about 100 mgN.L-1.

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Table 9 Amount of wastewater used in one season of the crops (x1,000 L.ha-1)

Treatments

Corn CBR KPS

Vegetables CBR 187.5 375 KPS 1,225

Sugar cane/Grass CBR 380* 760 KPS -

Remarks

WWL WWH

220 440

1,225

*sugar cane

1,000* * ** Guinea grass, with rate per month

CONCLUSION The wastewater from pig farms contained a lot of NO3-N and NH4-N. About 60-80% of nitrogen in the wastewater was in both inorganic forms. The wastewater could replace chemical fertilizers as much as 80-100% of the application rate depending on type of growing crops. It could replace up to 100% of the chemical fertilizers at the recommended rate of the chemical N for corn, sweet corn, sugar cane, oil palm and cassava. The same results might be observed from the grass crops. Better yield and nutrients of the crops were generally observed in the combination treatment of the half dose of chemical N + the wastewater. In vegetable, such as Chinese green mustard and/or Pak-choy, application of the wastewater could give the yield 80-100% as much as those treated with chemical N.

The wastewater could replace some amount of water consumption of the crops. For instance, the wastewater at the above recommended rate could replace the irrigation water as much as 220,000 to 440,000, 187,500 to 375,000 and 380,000 to 760,000 L.ha-1 in one season of corn, Chinese green mustard and sugar cane respectively. If the wastewater contained total N no higher than 100 mgN.L-1, it could replace irrigation water for the whole season in some crops. One appropriate method for mitigation of water pollution from livestock effluents is the method of using it as fertilizer and irrigation water. The wastewater should be collected in the lagoons and it should be mixed with irrigation water before applying it to the crop fields at the concentration about 100 mgN.L-1 if the wastewater was supposed to use for the whole growing season.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This project was financially supported by FAO. The author feels very much appreciated with the kind assistance and support from FAO Regional Office for Asia

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and the Pacific, Thailand and Livestock, Environment and Development Initiative (LEAD), Animal Production and Health Division, FAO, Rome. Strong support from Department of Livestock Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES Chunnasit, B., J. Pages and O. Duangngam. 2000. Incident of Bangkok city development on peri-urban agricultural patterns and cropping systems evolution. In Proc. on The Chao Phraya Delta: Historical Development, Dynamics and Challenges of Thailands Rice Bowl. Kasetsart University, Bangkok. Duangngam, O. and J. Pages. 2000. Nutrient recycling: an overview of Bangkok peri-urban agricultural sector, an example of recycling technology: the Agrifiltre process. In Mini-symposium on Nutrient Recycling for Peri-urban Agriculture. Kasetsart University, Bangkok.
Harada, Y., K. Haga, T. Osada and M. Koshino. 1993. Quality of compost produced from animal wastes. JARQ 26: 238-246.

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative. 1998. Data Statistic Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative. Panichsakpatana, S. 1995a. Utilization of effluent from biogas production as nitrogen source for Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) grown on Kamphaeng Saen soil. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.) 29: 182-192. Panichsakpatana, S. 1995b. Efficiency of some selected organic wastes as nitrogen source for sweet corn grown on Kamphaen Saen soil. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.) 29: 358-370. Panichsakpatana, S. 1995c. Utilization of effluent from biogas production as nitrogen source for Pak-choy (Brassica campetris var chinensis) grown on Kamphaeng Saen soil. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.) 29: 445-453. Panichsakpatana, S. 2003. Fertigation of some selected crops with wastewater from pig farms: an appropriate method for mitigation of water pollution from livestock effluents, pp 89-90. In the First Southeast Asia Water Forum. SEAWF, IWMI, FAO, Chiang Mai. Saridnirun, P and J. Pages. 1999. The Bangkok case: contribution of applied research to peri-urban agriculture. In Proc. of Sub-regional workshop on the Constraints and Opportunities for the Development of Urban and Peri-urban Horticulture in South-east Asia. Min. Agriculture, Peoples Republic of China, FAO-UN.

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