Bamboo Biochar and a Nopal-Based Biofertilizer as Improvers of Alkaline Soils with Low Buffer Capacity

Abstract

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.

Exploitation of indigenous bamboo macrophyte species and bamboo biochar for faecal sludge treatment with constructed wetland technology in the Sudano-Sahelian ecological zone

“…The pH of the biochar was moderately alkaline and similar to the results (pH 8.2) of Cruz-Méndez et al. (2021) while EC was relatively higher (1021 μS/cm) for the same feedstock produced at 450–500 °C.…”

“…(2021) while EC was relatively higher (1021 μS/cm) for the same feedstock produced at 450–500 °C. The usual alkaline nature of biochar has been attributed to the temperature of pyrolysis ( Singh et al., 2017 ; Cruz-Méndez et al., 2021 ). The low EC of the biochar might be ideal to preserve salinity levels in the VFCW.…”

Biochar-Assisted Phytostabilization for Potentially Toxic Element Immobilization

“…Biochar generally has a neutral or slightly alkaline pH, and its alkalinity increases with the pyrolysis temperature, typically carried out at 300 up to 600 • C, under little or no oxygen conditions [39]. The literature abounds with studies showing that biochar, as a soil additive, has the ability to raise the soil pH (that is, to neutralize its acidity) [40][41][42][43]. It has also been demonstrated that biochar contains many alkaline substances, including calcium carbonate in amounts ranging from 0.5% to 33%, and thus can increase the pH of soils [44].…”

Bamboo-Based Biochar: A Still Too Little-Studied Black Gold and Its Current Applications

“…Other authors, by pyrolyzing bamboo waste, bamboo tick, residual bamboo biomass, and bamboo agricultural by-products at temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 700 °C, prepared BBCs that were successful in enhancing soil fertility, crop growth [ 140 ], and soil acidification. Such BBCs have been demonstrated to be efficient in improving soil carbon content, promoting nutrient retention, improving microbial community abundance, and reducing CO 2 emissions [ 141 ], thus being suitable for soil amendment [ 144 ]. Yanan et al prepared three types of biochar (corn stalk biochar (CSB), rape straw biochar (RSB), and bamboo charcoal (BC)) to investigate the relationship between N 2 O emissions from composting and denitrifying bacterial communities on compost and BC particles [ 142 ].…”