Abstract

The countless generation of waste (solid or liquid) by agro-industrial activities, has stimulated the development of researches aimed not only at the processing of these materials but also the possibility to take advantage of them in the agricultural environment. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the production of maize plants (Zea mays cultivar LG 6036) grown in pots containing Oxisol in addition to tannery sludge vermicompost and irrigated with treated wastewater from households. The treatments consisted of factorial 2x6 (two types of irrigation and six fertilization treatments) in a completely randomized design with five replications. At the end of the experiment, the following production components were evaluated: 100 grain weight (g) (13% moisture - dry basis), total number of grains per spike, total weight of grains per spike and total weight of the spike (g). It was observed that plants grown in soil increased with tannery sludge vermicomposting and irrigated with treated wastewater had higher yields, which indicates that these residues are important sources of nutrients for growing corn.

Key words: Agro-industrial waste, reuse of treated wastewater, waste recycling, sustainable agriculture.