Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 51, Nos. 1/2, 2013 79 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Effect of textile effluent treatment plant sludge on the growth metabolism of Green gram (Vigna radiata L) Jyoti Prasad Kakati Department of Biotechnology, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode – 637 215, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India E-mail: jyotiprasadkakati@gmail.com Ponnusamy Ponmurugan* Department of Biotechnology, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode – 637 215, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India Fax: 91-4288-274745 E-mail: drponmurugan@gmail.com *Corresponding author Natarajan Rajasekaran Summer India Textile Limited, Processing Division, Tiruchengode – 637 211, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India E-mail: natarajanrajasekaranr@gmail.com Balasubramanian Mythili Gnanamangai Department of Biotechnology, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode – 637 215, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India E-mail: mythumithras@gmail.com E-mail: mythustalin@yahoo.co.in Abstract: An attempt has been made to study the potential reuse of textile effluent treatment plant sludge on the growth of Green gram (Vigna radiata L) as a fertiliser. The physico-chemical and engineering properties of a composite textile sludge sample have been studied before starting the experiment to evaluate its suitability as fertiliser. The results showed that the sludge material contained sufficient amount of macro and micro nutrients, however, some of the nutrients such as lead, ferrous, sulphate and chloride were found to be high. On the other hand, other physical parameters such as total hardness, total volatile solids and pH were found to be high in the sludge. Among the various