Water hyacinth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Water Hyacinth

Common Water Hyacinth (E. crassipes)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:

Plantae

(unranked):

Angiosperms

(unranked):

Monocots

(unranked):

Commelinids

Order:

Commelinales

Family:

Pontederiaceae

Genus:

Eichhornia
Kunth

Species

Seven species, including:

E. azurea - Anchored Water Hyacinth E. crassipes - Common Water Hyacinth E. diversifolia - Variableleaf Water Hyacinth E. paniculata - Brazilian Water Hyacinth

The seven species of water hyacinth comprise the genus Eichhornia.

Contents

1 Description 2 Invasiveness as an exotic plant 3 Control 4 Industrial utilization

4.1 Exogenous

5 References 6 External links

[edit]Description
Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant native to tropical and sub-tropical South America. With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter in height. The leaves are 1020 cm across, and float above the water surface. They have long, spongy and bulbous stalks. The feathery, freely hanging roots are purple-black. An erect stalk supports a single spike of 815 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals. When not in bloom, water hyacinth may be mistaken for frog's-bit (Limnobium spongia). One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. It also produces large quantities of seeds, and these are viable up to thirty years. The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are vigorous growers known to double their population in two weeks. In Assamese they are known as Meteka. In Sinhala they are known as Japan Jabara ( ) due to their

use in World War II to fool Japanese pilots into thinking lakes were fields usable to land their aircraft, leading to crashes. In Burmese they are known as Baydar. In Bangladesh and West Bengal, they are known as kochuripana. In Southern Pakistan, they are the provincial flower of Sindh.

In the Philippines, they use some of the water hyacinth's stems and dry it to take its fibers and take them to form strands of string each. These pieces of string are woven or interlinked together to form a braid or cord used for making bags, footwear, wreaths, hats, vases, Christmas lanterns, and more decorative materials. Because water hyacinth are prolific to the point of being a nuisance, this lets the people earn money by selling these products for a living while cleaning up the overpopulated bodies of water that are full of water hyacinths.

[edit]Invasiveness

as an exotic plant

Common water hyacinth in flower

Water hyacinth has been widely introduced in North America, Asia, Australia, Africa and New Zealand. They can be found in large water areas such as Louisiana, or in the Kerala Backwaters in India. In many areas it, particularly E. crassipes, is an important and pernicious invasive species. First introduced to North America in 1884, an estimated 50 kilograms per square metre of hyacinth once chokedFlorida's waterways, although the problem there has since been mitigated. When not controlled, water hyacinth will cover lakes and ponds entirely; this dramatically impacts water flow, blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish (or turtles). The plants also create a prime habitat for mosquitos, the classic vectors of disease, and a species of snail known to host a parasitic flatworm which causesschistosomiasis (snail fever). Directly blamed for starving subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea, water hyacinth remains a major problem where effective control programs are not in place. Water hyacinth is often problematic in man-made ponds if uncontrolled, but can also provide a food source for gold fish, keep water clean and help to provide oxygen to man-made ponds. Water hyacinth often invades bodies of water that have been impacted by human activities. For example, the plants can unbalance natural lifecycles in artificial reservoirs or in eutrophied lakes that receive large amounts of nutrients. There are other uses being found for the abundant plants, such as for cattle food and in biogas production. Recently, they have also begun to be used in wastewater treatment due to their fast growth and ability to tolerate high levels of pollution. Parts of the plant are also used in the production of traditional handicrafts in

Southeast Asia. In Bangladesh, farmers have started producing fertilizer using Water Hyacinth or Kochuripana as it is known there locally. Eichhornia crassipes, the Common water hyacinth, has become a invasive plant species on Lake Victoria in Africa after it was introduced into the area in the 1980s.

[edit]Control
Water hyacinth can be controlled using three methods: Chemical Control The application of herbicides for controlling water hyacinth has been carried out for many years and it has been found that there is a good success rate when dealing with small infestations. A main concern when using herbicides is the environmental and health related effects, especially where people collect water for drinking and washing. Physical Control Physical control is performed by land based machines such as bucket cranes, draglines, or boorm or by water based machinery such as aquatic weed harvester, dredges, or vegetation shredders. Mechanical removal is seen as the best short-term solution to the proliferation of the plant. It is however costly and requires the use of both land and water vehicles. Biological Control As chemical and mechanical removal is often too expensive and ineffective, researchers have turned to biological control agents to deal with water hyacinth. The effort began in the 1970s whenUSDA researchers released three species of weevil known to feed on water hyacinth into the United States, Neochetina bruchi, N. eichhorniae, and the water hyacinth borer Sameodes albiguttalis. Although meeting with limited success, the weevils have since been released in more than 20 other countries. However, the most effective control method remains the control of excessive nutrients and prevention of the spread of this species.

In 2010 the insect Megamelus scutellaris was released by the Agricultural Research Service as a biological control for the invasive species Eichhornia crassipes, more commonly known as waterhyacinth. (United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, [1])

May 2010 the USDAs Agricultural Research Service released Megamelus scutellaris as a biological control insect for the invasive waterhyacinth species. Megamelus scutellaris is a small planthopper insect native to Argentina. Researchers have been studying the effects of the biological control agent in extensive host-range studies since 2006 and concluded that the insect is highly host-specific and will not pose a threat to any other plant population other than the targeted water hyacinth. Researchers also hope that the biological control will be more resilient than existing biological controls to the herbicides that are already in place to combat the invasive water hyacinth. [2]

[edit]Industrial

utilization

Since the plant has abundant nitrogen content, it can be used a substrate for biogas production and the sludge obtained from the biogas. However, due to easy accumulation of toxins, the plant is prone to get contaminated when used as feed.

[edit]Exogenous
The plant is extremely tolerant of, and has a high capacity for, the uptake of heavy metals, including Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb and Hg, which could make it suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater
[1], [2], [3], [4]

. In

addition to heavy metals, Eichhornia crassipes can also remove other toxins, such ascyanide, which is environmentally beneficial in areas that have endured gold mining operations.[5] Water hyacinth removes arsenic from arsenic contaminated drinking water. It may be a useful tool in removing arsenic from tube well water inBangladesh.[6] Water hyacinth is also observed to enhance nitrification in waste water treatment cells of living technology. Their root zones are superb micro-sites for bacterial communities.[7]

Eichhornia crassipes From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Common Water Hyacinth

Scientific classification Kingdom: (unranked): (unranked): (unranked): Plantae Angiosperms Monocots Commelinids

Order: Commelinales Family: Pontederiaceae Genus: Eichhornia Species: Binomial name Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as Common Water Hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often considered a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. Contents [hide] 1 Description 2 Invasive species 3 Uses 3.1 Bioenergy 3.2 Phytoremediation, waste water treatment 3.3 Edibility 3.4 Medicinal use E. crassipes

3.5 Other uses 4 Gallery 5 References 6 External links [edit]Description

Its habitat ranges from tropical desert to subtropical or warm temperate desert to rainforest zones. It tolerates annual precipitations of 8.2 dm to 27.0 dm (mean of 8 cases = 15.8 dm), annual temperatures from 21.1C to 27.2C (mean of 5 cases = 24.9C), and its pH tolerance is estimated at 5.0 to 7.5. It does not tolerate water temperatures >34C. Leaves are killed by frost and salt water, the latter trait being used to kill some of it by floating rafts of the cut weed to the sea. Water hyacinths do not grow when the average salinity is greater than 15% that of sea water. In brackish water, its leaves show epinasty and chlorosis, and eventually die.[1] Because of E. crassipes invasiveness, several biological control agents have been released to control it, including two weevils, Neochetina bruchi Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Neochetina eichhorniae Warner (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), and the moth Niphograpta albiguttalis (Warren) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae).[2] Neochetina eichhorniae causes "a substantial reduction in water hyacinth production" (in Louisiana); it reduces plant height, weight, root length, and makes the plant produce fewer daughter plants. N. eichhorniae was introduced from Argentina to Florida in 1972.[3] Azotobacter chroococcum, an N-fixing bacteria, is probably concentrated around the bases of the petioles. But the bacteria do not fix nitrogen unless the plant is suffering extreme N-deficiency.[4] Fresh plants contain prickly crystals.[1] This plant is reported to contain HCN, alkaloid, and triterpenoid, and may induce itching.[5] Plants sprayed with 2,4-D may accumulate lethal doses of nitrates,[6] as well as various other nocive elements in polluted environments. See further down. [edit]Invasive species

E. crassipes has been introduced in various countries, and in some locations it has become serious invasive plant species. In New Zealand it is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord which prevents it from being propagated, distributed or sold. Africa See also: Water hyacinth in Lake Victoria

The plant was introduced by Belgian colonists to Rwanda to beautify their holdings and then advanced by natural means to Lake Victoria where it was first sighted in 1988.[7] There, without any natural enemies, it has become an ecological plague, suffocating the lake, diminishing the fish reservoir, and hurting the local economies. It impedes access to Kisumu and other harbors. The water hyacinth has also appeared to the north in Ethiopia, where it was first reported in 1965 at the Koka Reservoir and in the Awash River, where the Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority has managed to bring it under moderate control at the considerable cost of human labor. Other infestations in Ethiopia include many bodies of water in the Gambela Region, the Blue Nile from just below Lake Tana into Sudan, and Lake Ellen near Alem Tena.[8] [edit]Uses

[edit]Bioenergy Because of its extremely high rate of development, Eichhornia crassipes is an excellent source of biomass. One hectare of standing crop can thus produce more than 70,000 m3 of biogas.[9] According to Curtis and Duke, one kg of dry matter can yield 370 liters of biogas, giving a heating value of 22,000 KJ/m3 (580 Btu/ft3) compared to pure methane (895 Btu/ft3)[10] Wolverton and McDonald report only 0.2 m3 methane per kg, indicating requirements of 350 MT biomass/ha to attain the 70,000 m3 yield projected by the National Academy of Sciences (Washington).[11] Ueki and Kobayashi mention more than 200 MT/ha/yr.[12] Reddy and Tucker found an experimental maximum of more than a half ton per day.[13] Bengali farmers collect and pile up these plants to dry at the onset of the cold season; they then use the dry water hyacinths as fuel. They then use the ashes as fertilizer. In India, a ton of dried water hyacinth yield circa 50 liters ethanol and 200 kg residual fiber (7,700 Btu). Bacterial fermentation of one ton yields 26,500 cu ft gas (600 Btu) with 51.6% methane, 25.4% hydrogen, 22.1% CO2, and 1.2% oxygen. Gasification of one ton dry matter by air and steam at high temperatures (800) gives circa 40,000 ft3 (circa 1,100 m3) natural gas (143 Btu/cu ft) containing 16.6% H3, 4.8% methane, 21.7% CO, 4.1% CO2, and 52.8% N. The high moisture content of water hyacinth, adding so much to handling costs, tends to limit commercial ventures.,[11][14] A continuous, hydraulic production system could be designed, which would provide a better utilization of capital investments than in conventional agriculture, which is essentially a batch operation.,[1][15] The labour involved in harvesting water hyacinth can be greatly reduced by locating collection sites and processors on impoundments that take advantage of prevailing winds. Wastewater treatment systems could also favourably be added to this operation. The harvested biomass would then be converted to ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen and/or gaseous nitrogen, and fertilizer. The resulting byproducts of water and fertilizer can both be used to irrigate nearby cropland.[1] [edit]Phytoremediation, waste water treatment

The roots of Eichhornia crassipes naturally absorb pollutants, including lead, mercury, and strontium-90, as well as some organic compounds believed to be carcinogenic, in concentrations 10,000 times that in the surrounding water.[16] Water hyacinths can be cultivated for waste water treatment.[1] [edit]Edibility The plant is used as a carotene-rich table vegetable in Taiwan. Javanese sometimes cook and eat the green parts and inflorescence.[1] [edit]Medicinal use In Kedah (Java), the flowers are used for medicating the skin of horses.[1] The species is a "tonic."[17] [edit]Other uses In East Africa, water hyacinths from Lake Victoria are used to make furniture, handbags and rope.[18] The plant is also used as animal feed and organic fertilizer although there is controversy stemming from the high alkaline pH value of the fertilizer.[19] [edit]Gallery

Floating

Flowers

A pond covered with water hyacinth

Inflated petiole

WATER HYACINTH: ITS PITFALL AND POTENTIALS Although several reasons have been cited as to what caused the recent flooding in Cotabato City and its neighboring areas, the main culprit was the free-floating perennial aquatic plant called water hyacinth.

Some 20-hectare spread of water hyacinths invaded the Rio Grande de Mindanao, the largest river in the region near Cotabato City. The water hyacinths reportedly flowed down from the Liguasan Marsh clogged the Delta Bridge which links Cotabato City and Maguindanao and caused floods that affected around one million families in the area. This is the worst flooding we had in years, commented Myrna Jo Henry, information officer of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Hindi na nawawala yung baha. Konting ulan, babaha. Hindi na makadaan yung tubig papunta sa dagat dahil sa water hyacinths kaya dumadaloy papunta sa mga komunidad. President Benigno Aquino declared war versus water hyacinths. But will the government win the war against the innocuous aquatic plants? A water hyacinth infestation is seldom totally eradicated, reminds a United Nations study. Instead, it is a situation that must be continually managed. In the Amazon, where it is native, the plant is held in check by natural enemies such as insects and microbes. These organisms stress the plants, controlling the mats expansion. But water-hyacinth has escaped to friendlier waters, especially since the 1800s. Often, visitors, drawn by its lush leaves and blue-to-lavender flowers, have taken it home as an ornamental. Today, it is considered a pest, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. It is very prolific; 10 plants could produce well over 650,000 offspring within eight months. The plant is far more productive than the crops that have been carefully cultivated by man under nearideal conditions of fertilization, irrigation, and pest control, wrote John Bunton in an article which appeared in Far Eastern Agriculture. Water hyacinth (scientific name: Eichornia crassipes) is considered the most productive plant on earth as it yields more than 200 tons of dry matter per hectare per year under normal conditions. On water containing high concentrations of sewage, it yields up to 657 tons of dry matter per hectare. The Philippines is not the only country facing the problem. Lake Victoria in East Africa, Keralas backwaters in India, Louisiana swamps, and Papua New Guinea have been plagued by the aquatic pest.

The physical problems brought about by water hyacinth are now common knowledge. Water hyacinth mats clog waterways, making boating, fishing and almost all other water activities impossible. Many large hydropower schemes are suffering from the effects of water hyacinth. But water hyacinths are not the only materials that clog esteros and other bodies of water. Plastic bags, like water hyacinths, are obnoxious. Plastic bags could be the most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, wrote Brian Halweil of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute. Their light weight, low cost and water resistance make them so convenient for carrying groceries, clothing or any other routine purchase that its hard to imagine life without them. Economies worldwide are following suit. Since they were introduced in the 1970s, plastic bags have infiltrated our lives, wrote Caroline Williams in an article which appeared in New Scientist. Globally, we carry home between 500 billion and a trillion every year about 150 bags for every person on earth, or, to put it another way, a million every minute and rising. Today, a growing number of environmentalists has considered plastic bag as public enemy no. 1. Plastic bags are a waste of resources in that we use them once and throw them away, Claire Wilton, senior waste campaigner for the London-based Friends of the Earth. But plastic bags can be controlled. By passing a law, some cities in the country are now banning the use of plastic bags in groceries and malls. But the case of water hyacinth is a different story. The long range plan is how to stop the water hyacinths from going down to Cotabato, says Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, chair of Task Force Water Basin in Cotabato. Most of the water hyacinth reportedly comes from upstream areas in Maguindanao and Bukidnon provinces. At worst, the aquatic plant may be a killer. In the Sepik area of Papua New Guinea, water hyacinth has been blamed for making people starve. According to Australian scientists K.L.S. Harley, M.H. Julien, and A.D. Wright, people could not access subsistence gardens, hunting areas, catch fish, or travel to market to sell and buy produce because of dense water-hyacinth mats. More typically, water-hyacinth damages water quality by blocking sunlight and oxygen and slowing the waters flow. By choking out other vegetation, it makes an area unusable by plants and animals that live in or depend on the water. The plants compete with the oxygen needed by fish and other aquatic animals to survive, Rose Cabrera, a biologist from the Laguna Lake Development Authority, was quoted as saying. In Lake Victoria, African fishermen have noted that, in areas where there is much water hyacinth infestation, the water is still and warm and the fish disappear. They also complain that crocodiles and snakes have become more prevalent. In the Florida Everglades of the United States, the snail kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) is endangered partly because this bird cant find apple snails its favorite food where water hyacinth has smothered the snails favored food plants.

In the 1990s, the world reportedly spent US$3 billion a year just to control the weed, for the most part with little or no success. Its phenomenal growth rate outstrips the systems employed, Bunton claimed. Currently, there are several popular control mechanisms for preventing the spread of or eradicating water hyacinth: biological, chemical and physical control. Each has its benefits and drawbacks. Chemical control is the least favored due the unknown long-term effects on the environment and the communities with which it comes into contact. Physical control, using mechanical mowers, dredgers or manual extraction methods, is used widely but is costly and cannot deal with very large infestations. In Cotabato, backhoes, bolos and brawn were pressed into service. For short-term solution, physical control is alright. For long-term solution, water hyacinth must be managed and controlled throughout the year. On the water hyacinth problem that caused the recent flooding in Cotabato, Cabrera told a television network, I think this is a problem that they made worse before it was solved. She added that water hyacinths grow fast, and as such, the local government units and the communities shouldnt have waited for the plant to mature, spread and cover 20 hectares of the Mindanao River with tangled weeds, and block waterways before they acted on the problem. Experts claim biological control is the most widely favored long- term control method, being relatively easy to use, and arguably providing the only economic and sustainable control. In some parts of the world, researches have been done to make water hyacinth into a profitable crop instead of a serious pest. In Bangladesh, the Mennonite Central Committee has been experimenting with paper production from water hyacinth for some years. They have established two projects that make paper from water hyacinth stems. The water hyacinth fiber alone does not make a particularly good paper but when the fiber is blended with waste paper or jute the result is reportedly good. We will turn the tons of green menace into green products and various items, said Joel Villanueva, the director general of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. In the Philippines, water hyacinth is dried and used to make baskets and matting for domestic use. The key to a good product is to ensure that the stalks are properly dried before being used. If the stalks still contain moisture then this can cause the product to rot quite quickly. Traditional basket making and weaving skills are used. Another agricultural use of water hyacinth is by turning them into green manure or as compost. As a green manure, it can be either ploughed into the ground or used as mulch. The plant is ideal for composting. After removing the plant from the water it can be left to dry for a few days before being mixed with ash, soil and some animal manure. Raging floods, frequent typhoons, and water hyacinth proliferation. Is nature fighting back? Or are these phenomena telling us something? Yes, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its new study: Shifting Band of Rain.

Earths most prominent rain band, near the equator, has been moving north at an average rate of 1.4 kilometers a year for three centuries, writes University of Washingtons Julian Sachs and Conor Myrgvold. Todays global warming hastened that process. Think globally, act locally, some environmentalists urge. We need to do something now, before rain continues to pour and water hyacinth clogs the dams, waterways, and hydropower plants. Even before, more people will die from the catastrophes that will happen when nature strikes back.

The Water-Hyacinth A Cinderella of the Plant World

Its use in sewage effluents, as a trapper of salts and a water purifier by G. C. Dymond, A.R.I.C.
Appendix B, "Soil Fertility and Sewage -- An account of Pioneer Work in South Africa in the Disposal of Town Wastes" by J.P.J. van Vuren, with a foreword by Lady Howard, 1949, Faber & Faber, London.

Dedicated To the first ten inches of soil. Historical

The water-hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a true water plant and floats by means of spongy petioles. Of all the aquatic plants the water-hyacinth is the most prolific and spectacular. It was first introduced into the United States from Venezuela and exhibited at the New Orleans Cotton Exposition in 1884. Garden-lovers sought this botanical curiosity and set them in pools and ponds. Very soon the plants escaped their garden bounds and infested the streams and bayous, with the result that for the past forty years many thousands of pounds have been spent in trying to keep in bounds this navigational nuisance. The plant propagates itself from tiny root fragments, which break off from the large plants and quickly develop leaf stalks and broad green leaves. Runners also grow along the water surface from the base of the petioles, resulting in a rapid spread of vegetative reproduction. Until very recently the literature had little good to say about this 'curse of the waterways'. Thus Evart, writing about the weeds of Victoria (vide Horticultural Abstracts II, 1941, p. 226), says: 'The waterhyacinth has been used as a manure, but is very bulky and rots quickly, so that it only has a slight and

temporary value in adding humus to the soil.' In Bengal (News letter on Compost, Oct. 1945, p. 69. 221) farmers were persuaded to turn the waterhyacinth into a composted manure. Analysis of random samples of the compost showed a nitrogen percentage of 1.12 on a dry basis. The potentialities of this plant were first fully recognized by Sir Albert Howard. In his recommendations to the Auckland Municipality he emphasized the necessity for the complete utilization of all city wastes. After describing the methods of screening the solids, and thereafter drying and composting with city wastes, he says: 'After the sludge is filtered off, the clear effluent will contain valuable plant food in solution. This can be trapped by the water-hyacinth. The clear sewage effluent, together with the storm water, should be led into some local stream, river or low-lying area, where the water-hyacinth can be cultivated as a crop, and the clear water (now deprived of most of its plant food) allowed to escape into the sea. On the banks of the areas producing this water-weed, composting centres should be set up and the weed systematically converted into humus, using as an activator a portion of the dried sewage sludge.' Howard thereupon asked me to carry out a chemical investigation into the matter. The prospects raised by him appeared so important that it was with the greatest interest that I complied -- with the following results. Some of this data was published in a paper presented by Howard to the Institute of Sewage Purification in London. (Institute of Sewage Purification, 20th Nov. 1946. Also Municipal Engineering of 7th and 14th February 1947.) Since then the Auckland Drainage League is pursuing the idea with keen interest. Inquiries also came from the city of Bradford, Yorkshire and plants were dispatched by air. As was anticipated, the plants did not survive the winter, but the work done by their staff was invaluable. The Esholt Sewage Disposal Works is a highly efficient process first started in 1906. The capital cost amounts to 2,500,000, of which the land cost 240,000. The average dry-weather flow to the works is 18 million gallons a day, and serves an area of 25,522 acres and a population of 262,500 persons. The report of their sewage works engineer and manager, W. H. Hellier, and their sewage research chemist, is a valuable contribution to the subject. In brief, they state that 'true floating plants such as Azolla (A. filiculoides) a water fern Duckweed (species of Lemna) Water-Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are preferable to plant types which root in the sides or bottom of a pond or lake, as they impede the necessary process of cleaning the lake bottom, a collection of humus sludge round the roots and stems might give rise to septic conditions detrimental to the lake effluent, and that such crops would be more difficult to harvest than true floating plants. The first two were found unsuitable, but the water-hyacinth, during summer, showed a rapid vegetative growth -- twenty square yards from a dozen plants in two months. It was found to tolerate a low pH of 6.5. It is easy to harvest and rots easily. It is capable of absorbing salts in proportion to their presence in the water in which it grows. It does not tolerate intense cold, acidity, stagnation nor sea water.

Composition
Like seaweed, river grasses, watercresses, etc., the water-hyacinth has a very high water content, ranging from 93 to 95 per cent. Its composition varies considerably with the media in which it grows. When there is a scarcity of fertilizer elements the plant becomes diminutive, but with plenty of food the growth becomes luxurious, with a deep greenish-blue colour. The following analyses show such extremes. The first plants were taken from a garden pool deficient in plant food, and the second from a slow-running river in which salts would tend to accumulate (Enseleni River and lakes, Zululand.)
x No. 1 No. 2 Water Content % 93.0 93.4 Dry Nitrogen% Dry Matter % Substance 7.0 6.6 1.33 2.01 Ash % Dry Substance 23.17 23.90

The analysis of the ash showed the following: x Total Silica Chlorine Iron and Alumina Sulphates Lime 1 2 x 1 2

58.02 39.40 Magnesia 3.55 9.23 Phosphoric Oxide

2.20 5.61 0.86 4.00 4.81 11.20 2.06 2.49 x x

19.35 17.00 Potash 2.40 6.75 2.57 Undetermined 8.50 x

In order to check this condition and to find out how soon the water-hyacinth would take to absorb additional fertile elements added to a media deficient in them, water from a fast-flowing stream was taken and divided into two large receptacles. No. 1 was control and in No. 2 the following water culture added:

Grams of salts per litre: KN03 - 0.25 gms. H2KP04 - 0.25 gms. MgS04 - 0.25 gms.

FeP04 - 0.25 gms. Ca(NO3)2 - 1.00 gms. The period of growth was two weeks, and the following illustrates the rapidity with which the plants will absorb additional salts. Analysis
x No. 1 No. 2 Water Content % 94.1 95.5 Dry Nitrogen % Dry Matter % Substance 5.9 4.5 1.42 2.23 Ash % Dry Substance 34.00 29.30

The analysis of the ash was as follows: x Total Silica Chlorine Iron and Alumina Sulphates Lime 1 2 x 1 2

44.74 23.92 Magnesia 6.04 9.58 Phosphoric Oxide

4.64 5.06 2.00 8.00 7.36 11.62 2.96 0.61 x x

23.00 30.40 Potash 2.46 6.80 2.81 Undetermined 8.00 x

Thus, in the short period of two weeks the nitrogen rose from 1.42 per cent to 2.23 per cent; the silica by replacement dropped from 44.2 per cent to 23.6 per cent; the phosphoric oxide rose from 2.0 per cent to 8.0 per cent, and the potash from 7.36 per cent to 11.62 per cent. A more detailed experiment was then conducted, which showed that nitrogen and phosphoric oxide were absorbed, whenever present, but not potash. Our preliminary analysis showed that the water-hyacinth absorbs nitrogen and phosphoric acid very rapidly. Further experiments determined more accurately the time and extent of absorbability. There appears to be a rapid curve of absorption for seven days, after which a state of equilibrium between growth and absorption is attained. It is apparent that 1 acre would absorb about 2.35 tons of ammonium sulphite in one hour. Experiments leading to the above conclusions were made with a 0.25 per cent solution of ammonium sulphate. Further experiments were carried out on a weak solution of urine. Qualitative experiments showed that, provided a certain minimum of nitrogen content was maintained, maximum absorption, with clarity and absence of smell, was obtained. They also demonstrated that, provided a certain surplus of plants and fresh

growth is maintained over and above the urine supply, clarification takes place, and all available nitrogen is absorbed.

A Cane Sugar Factory, Darnall, Natal.

A pond closing in.

Water hyacinth and a Sorghum struggling for supremacy on the side of a stream.

Water hyacinth in flower.

Sulphuretted Hydrogen
At sugar mills, where sulphur is used in clarification, contamination of rivers and streams by H2S is common. It was, therefore, interesting to determine, not only if the water-hyacinth would grow in such polluted waters, but also to what extent it might alleviate this nuisance. The results found are encouraging.

A quantity of polluted water containing 1,700 Mgs. of H2S per 100,000 ccs. was planted with hyacinth and new plants replaced the old on each successive day. The results were as follows:
Time 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours H2S in mgs. per 100,000 ccs. 1700 884 680 630 622 Percentage of H2S Absorbed 48 23.1 7.3 1.3 Percentage of Total Absorption to date 60 63 63.5

In five similar experiments the average reduction in the free H2S content was 62 per cent. The rest of the H2S present presumably existed as sulphides not available to the plant; or otherwise part of the H2S had become oxidized during the period of the experiment. In every case the water became perfectly clear after forty-eight hours and continued in that condition.

Crop Yields per Acre and Their Value

Based on the average weight of plants per square foot, half an hour after their removal from water, it is calculated that an acre of well-grown plants will weigh approximately 96 tons. It is further estimated that a given area will at least double itself in one month. Assuming, therefore, that cropping is conducted at the same rate as reproduction, one acre will yield a maximum of 6.7 tons and a minimum of 4.3 tons of dry matter per month, or 80.4 and 51.6 tons per acre per year. Our detailed results, for which we have no space here, show that the fertilizer value of this crop varies considerably with the medium in which it grows. How, then, can this factor be exploited? Let us examine, for example, what the recommendations put forward to the Auckland Municipality actually mean. It is known that 0.038 lb. of nitrogen are lost in urine per person per day. Taking the maximum yield of nitrogen in lb. per acre per annum (maximum, because a high nitrogen content in the water medium gives a high nitrogen content in the plant) as 3075.6 lb., this represents 80,900 persons for one day or 220 daily for one year. A city of 200,000 people would, therefore, require a water-hyacinth acreage of approximately 900 cropping acres, which would yield 1397.9 tons of organic nitrogen and a yearly income of 205,000 in nitrogen values alone. Add the phosphoric oxide and potash values and we have a total potential source of new revenue from

200,000 people of 341,800. These figures take no account of humus values, lime and other salts present in the plant. The calculations have been based on the plant absorption rate over a fortnight and the assumption made that the growth rate will maintain the absorption rate. On this basis the number of persons required to maintain the supply, based on their daily N value, has been calculated. Before concluding, it should be pointed out that the foregoing estimates are based on an average urine effluent from 200,000 persons and take no account of the values present in the solids. Such values are additional. Thus Jackson and Wad (Jackson and Wad: 'The Sanitary Disposal and Agricultural Utilization of Habitation Wastes by the Indore Method,' Indian Medical Gazette, Feb.1934) give the following composition of an average sample of town refuse. Other authorities refer to human excreta.
Constituent Nitrogen Potassium Phosphorus Organic matter Percentage Composition 0.70 0.27 0.43 22.62 Quantity in lb. per capita per annum 3.80 1.46 2.33 122.70

On a basis of 200,000 people there would, therefore, be the following additional quantities per annum:

Nitrogen - 380 ton Potassium - 146 ton Phosphorus - 233 ton (*Presumably K20 and P205.)

Conclusions
The foregoing experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions; there appears, however, no reason to suppose that large-scale tests would not be even more conclusive. Since conditions of confinement in small areas would then be avoided. The experiments show that the water-hyacinth is a highly efficient absorber of fertilizer elements. The highest fertilizer value based on nitrogen, phosphoric oxide and potash was 376 per acre per annum,

with a minimum of 173. The higher figure represents the nitrogen lost by 220 people daily. Approximately 900 cropping acres would look after a city of 200,000 people, yielding an annual revenue of 341,800 in fertilizer values. As a true water plant it is especially suitable for effluent lakes. The only criticism against its use in practice is its bulk and high percentage of water. Thus an acre will produce 1,100 tons of plants per acre per annum, representing only 66 tons of dry matter. This condition is, however, largely balanced by the ease of cropping. Plants can be continuously hauled in to the banks of, say, a lake and left to partially dry out before transportation is considered. The water-hyacinth provides a means of purification and of trapping vast amounts of fertile elements which are normally lost. The foregoing data, while incomplete, especially from micro-biological and health angle of purification, warrant, I consider, a fullscale trial under scientifically and especially pathologically controlled conditions.

See: Water hyacinth Small Farms Library Index

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