Alkaline soils with low buffering capacity are susceptible to amendments such as biochar or biofertilizers, which could drastically alter their pH. For that, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a low biochar and biofertilizer addition to improve soil characteristics and the use of nutrients to reduce the doses of chemical fertilizer. For that, we measured the initial effect of biochar addition on the soil characteristics. Then, to evaluate the changes produced by biochar and biofertilizer on cultivated soil, we carried out a greenhouse experiment with Physalis ixocarpa for two crop cycles. We also studied the nutrient use efficiency, comparing chemical fertilization at 100% (without biochar) against 50% and 20% with biochar on crop yield, plant height, fruit weight, and root length. Finally, we compared the combination of biochar and biofertilizer with the treatments mentioned earlier. The results showed that after adding 0.2% of bamboo biochar, bulk density (BD) decreased while CEC, as well as OM, Pav, Fe, and Cu contents, increased in the soil. The combination of biochar and biofertilizer improved WHC, Pav, and OM comparing to the soil added with biochar. We found that the bamboo biochar and nopal-based fertilizer are suitable improvers for the studied soil.

México figura dentro de los primeros quince países en donde han ocurrido los más grandes accidentes industriales entre 1917 y 2011. El accidente ocurrido en Tekchem, una planta de agroquímicos ubicada en Salamanca, Guanajuato es uno de los doce eventos acaecidos en nuestro país en el periodo mencionado. En este estudio se hace una revisión de cómo este accidente forzó a las autoridades ambientales a prestar atención a un pasivo ambiental que se formó durante casi 50 años, mismo que hasta la fecha continua sin ser remediado en su totalidad.