Impact of sugar industry effluents on soil cellulase activity

An assessment on the impact of sugar industry wastes on soil physicochemical and cellulase activity in waste dump sites, carried out in urban Nandyal, Southern India. Some core samples were collected from the selected profile pits at different soil horizons of dump (test) and non-dump sites (control). The experimental results indicated that, most of the physicochemical properties such as silt, clay, electrical conductivity, water holding capacity, organic matter and total nitrogen contents, microbial population and cellulase activities were significantly higher in the test sample than in the control. Furthermore, though the application of effluents substantially increased the cellulase activity, but was declined at high effluent concentration. Nevertheless, enzyme activity was gradually dropped upon prolonged incubation period in all three samples, such as control, test and effluent amended samples.