Effects of Biochar and Farm Yard Manure on Soil Properties and Crop Growth in an Agroforestry System in the Himalaya

Gautam, Deepak; Sitaula, Bishal K.

doi:10.5539/sar.v6n4p74

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Similarly, biochar from peanut hulls also decreased the leaching of ammonium and nitrate by 14 and 34%, respectively, (Yao et al, 2012). Several field investigations showed that biochar application to agricultural soil considerably decreased the leaching of N, NO 3 − , K, P, Mg, Na, and Ca from soil (Major et al, 2012;Agegnehu et al, 2015;Kammann et al, 2015;Gautam et al, 2017).…”

Section: Nutrient Offering and Retentionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

et al. 2021

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Increasing pressure on farming systems due to rapid urbanization and population growth has severely affected soil health and fertility. The need to meet the growing food demands has also led to unsustainable farming practices with the intensive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar, a multifunctional carbon material, is being actively explored globally for simultaneously addressing the concerns related to improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change. Reviews on biochar, however, mainly confined to lab-scale studies analyze biochar production and its characteristics, its effects on soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The present review addresses this gap by focusing on biochar field trials to enhance the current understanding of its actual impact on the field, w.r.t. agriculture and climate change. The review presents an overview of the effects of biochar application as observed in field studies on soil health (soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties), crop productivity, and its potential role in carbon sequestration. General trends from this review indicate that biochar application provides higher benefits in soil properties and crop yield in degraded tropical soils vis-a-vis the temperate regions. The results also reveal diverse observations in soil health properties and crop yields with biochar amendment as different studies consider different crops, biochar feedstocks, and local climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, it has been observed that the effects of biochar application in lab-scale studies with controlled environments are not always distinctly witnessed in corresponding field-based studies and the effects are not always synchronous across different regions. Hence, there is a need for more data, especially from well-designed long-term field trials, to converge and validate the results on the effectiveness of biochar on diverse soil types and agro-climatic zones to improve crop productivity and mitigate climate change.

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Section: Nutrient Offering and Retentionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

et al. 2021

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“…For instance, in tropical acid soil, soil exchangeable K increased using 5 t ha −1 chicken litter biochar [60]. In a study with Nepalese silty loam soil, Gautam et al [61] reported that biochar contained a high amount of ash, which is responsible for increased exchangeable K, which stimulates for quick discharge of mineral nutrients to the soil [62] along with restraining the loss of K leaching [63].…”

Section: Biochar and Lime Treatment Affects Soil Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined Application of Biochar and Lime Increases Maize Yield and Accelerates Carbon Loss from an Acidic Soil

et al. 2021

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Biochar, an ecologically friendly soil amendment, is suggested for large-scale field application for its multiple potential benefits, including carbon sequestration, crop yield improvement, and the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is unknown how effective it is in changing soil properties and its associated yield improvement when biochar is co-applied with lime in acidic soil. Here, we examined the effects of two different biochars, i.e., rice husk biochar (RHB) and oil palm empty fruit bunches biochar (EFBB), and lime on nutrient availability, the yield of maize, and soil CO2 emission of acid soil. Biochars were applied at two different rates (10 and 15 t ha−1) in combination with two rates of lime (100% and 75%), while the recommended rate of NPK fertilizers, 100% lime, and without any amendments (control) were also included. Hybrid sweet corn was grown in pots with 20 kg soils for 75 days. Plant performance and soil analyses were performed before and after crop maize cultivation while CO2 emission was recorded. Compared to the control, combined RHB biochars with lime significantly buffered soil pH and increased nutrient availability (e.g., P by 137%), while reducing Al and Fe concentration at harvest. These changes in soil properties significantly increased maize yield (by 77.59%) and nutrient uptake compared to the control. Between the two biochars, RHB was relatively more effective in making these changes than EFBB. However, this treatment contributed to a greater carbon loss as CO2 (209% and 145% higher with RHB and EFBB) from soil than the control. We believe that biochar-mediated buffering of soil pH is responsible for this change. Our results suggest that combined biochar application could bring desirable changes in soil properties and increase crop performance, although these effects can be short-lived.

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“…Also, VC promotes growth and productivity of wheat (Suthar, 2006 andIbrahim et al, 2015), while VC with BC provides pathogen suppression to plants and increase crop productivity (Shoaf, 2014). Moreover, 5 tons BC with 20 tons FYM/ha (Gautam et al, 2017) or 2.5-5.0% BC+ compost with or without the mineral fertilizer (Schulzand Glaser (2012) provide beneficial effects on plant growth, plant height, crop yield and soil chemical properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of biochar, vermicompost and polymer on wheat and maize productivity in sandy soils under drought stress

Aboelsoud

Ahmed

2020

EBSS

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T HE DROUGHT is one of the most important abiotic stresses limiting the crop productivity especially in sandy soils in arid and semi-arid areas. So, using soil amendments such as vermicompost (VC), biochar (BC), and polymer (PL) are more important in these areas. Lysimeter experiments with sandy soil were carried out at Sakha Agric. Res. Station, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt to study the effect of 0.4% PL, 4.0% VC and 1.0% BC (W:W soil) on productivity of wheat (2018/019) and maize (2019) under two irrigation levels (irrigation after depletion of 50% and 75% from soil moisture. The obtained results indicated that irrigation at 75% moisture depletion (irrigation deficit) decreased plant height, 100-grain weight, grain and straw yields, water applied to wheat (-16.8%) and maize (-20%) compared to that with higher irrigation level (50% depletion). Also, water productivity was slightly decreased for wheat, but it slightly increased for maize and ECe values were slightly increased due to irrigation deficit. Also, applications of soil amendments and their combinations significantly increased plant height, 100-grain weight, yield and water productivity of both crops and improved soil porosity and field capacity. The VC was more effective treatment followed by BC and PL treatments, while their interactions were the most effective on these parameters. Moreover, soil amendments alleviated the deleterious effects of irrigation deficit on plant growth and salt accumulation. Finally, applying BC combined with VC and PL could be recommended as a good approach to maintain long-term productivity of sandy soils and mitigate the hazardous effects of drought stresses.

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Effects of Biochar and Farm Yard Manure on Soil Properties and Crop Growth in an Agroforestry System in the Himalaya

Cited by 25 publications

References 16 publications

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

Combined Application of Biochar and Lime Increases Maize Yield and Accelerates Carbon Loss from an Acidic Soil

Effect of biochar, vermicompost and polymer on wheat and maize productivity in sandy soils under drought stress

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