Effect of Compound Biochar Substrate on the Root Growth of Cucumber Plug Seedlings

Abstract

Since plug seedling plays a key role in automatic transplanting, this work aimed to explore the effect biochar has on the root growth of plug seedlings. The physicochemical properties tests showed that the addition of biochar in the peats could increase the porosity, pH, and EC values of the substrate, and the substrates treated with 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% biochar could meet the requirements of seedling raising. The water retention of the substrate was superior with the increase of biochar proportion, and the nitrogen release significantly decreased with the increase of the biochar proportion. Our results demonstrated that the substrate with 10% biochar-treated apparently promoted the growth of seedlings and root systems, even the length of the root-tip cells. However, the substrates with 40% and 50% biochar-treated obviously inhibited the growth of seedlings and root systems. It was noticed that the strength of substrate with appropriate biochar proportion was enhanced, as well. Under the interaction of strong root system and solid substrate, the compressive strength of the substrate with 20% and 10% biochar-treated was much better than others, especially that of 40% and 50% biochar-treated, which efficiently satisfied the requirements of automatic seedling picking. The biochar may have a good application prospect in seedling raising.

Effects of Nutrient Solution Irrigation Quantity and Downy Mildew Infection on Growth and Physiological Traits of Greenhouse Cucumber

“…The fresh weights of the leaves, stems and roots of each plant were measured at the end of the experiment. Then, they were put in an oven which was set at 105 • C for 15 min, after which the temperature would be reset to 80 • C, followed by keeping them drying until the weight was constant; a precision electronic scale (0.0001 g) was used to measure the dry weight of leaves, stems and roots [1]. Finally, the root-shoot ratio for the crops was calculated according to the following formula (1):…”

“…The results are different from total length and total tips of root in this experiment. Although we used a protective cleaning method to wash and tidy the root system, experimental errors may also occur when root washing is performed [1,38]. Note: Values within the same columns followed by different lowercase letters are significantly different at (p < 0.05).…”

“…With the continuously increasing global population, the demand for food production has increased [1][2][3]. Greenhouses are conducive to the growth of vegetables and are hardly affected by the external environment, which plays an important role in improving vegetable yield [4,5].…”

Biochar induced improvement in root system architecture enhances nutrient assimilation by cotton plant seedlings

“…Combined application of biochar and chemical nitrogen fertilizer (e.g., urea) can effectively raise crop yield and NUE by slowing down nitrogen release, regulating microbial diversity, and stimulating nitrification while inhibiting denitrification, as compared with applying chemical fertilizer as the sole nitrogen source [ 60 – 62 ]. There are many studies focused on the increased nitrogen agronomic efficiency resulted from the improved soil nitrogen availability with biochar application, but there are few reports on molecular signals or root phenotypes related to nitrogen availability increase in rhizosphere [ 63 , 64 ]. A recent report pointed out that root phenotype and architecture are influenced by soil biophysical and chemical properties such as mineral nitrogen, moisture, and temperature.…”

Application of Biochar for Cadmium Stabilization in Contaminated Paddy Soil

“…Moreover, pine pellet biochar was shown to increase the growth of cucumber plug seedling in both stem and root. [16]. Therefore, biochar can be applied to contaminated soil to decrease heavy metal uptake by crops while increasing the growth and yield of the crops.…”