Enhancing phosphorus availability, soil organic carbon, maize productivity and farm profitability through biochar and organic–inorganic fertilizers in an irrigated maize agroecosystem under semi‐arid climate

Abstract

Biochar amendments offer promising potential to improve soil fertility, soil organic carbon (SOC) and crop yields; however, a limited research has explored these benefits of biochar in the arid and semi‐arid regions. This two‐year field study investigated the effects of Acacia tree biomass‐derived biochar, applied at 0 and 10 t ha‒1 rates with farmyard manure (FYM) or poultry manure (PM) and mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizer combinations (100 kg P ha‐1), on maize (Zea mays L.) productivity, P use efficiency (PUE) and farm profitability. The application of biochar with organic–inorganic P fertilizers significantly increased soil P and SOC contents than the sole organic or inorganic P fertilizers. Addition of biochar and PM as 100% P source resulted in the highest soil P (104% increase over control) and SOC contents (203% higher than control). However, maize productivity and PUE were significantly higher under balanced P fertilizer (50% organic + 50% mineral fertilizer) with biochar and the increase was 110%, 94% and 170% than 100%‐FYM, 100%‐PM and 100% mineral fertilizer, respectively. Maize productivity and yield correlated significantly positively with soil P and SOC contents These positive effects were possibly due to the ability of biochar to improve soil properties, P availability from organic–inorganic fertilizers and SOC which resulted in higher PUE and maize productivity. Despite the significant positive relationship of PUE with net economic returns, biochar incorporation with PM and mineral fertilizer combination was economically profitable, whereas FYM along biochar was not profitable due to short duration of the field experiments.

The role of biochar in improving soil properties, water retention and potato yield in a Fluvisol under temperate monsoon climate

“…Similarly, larger changes in the soil properties were reported for the coarse-than fine-textured soils for equivalent biochar application rate (Omondi et al, 2016;Razzaghi et al, 2020). Enhanced soil properties, crop yield and economic benefits (Arif et al, 2021;Dong et al, 2021;Ye et al, 2020) were reported for the integration of biochar with other organic and/or mineral amendments compared to the sole application of biochar. The beneficial influence of biochar rises with time (Kätterer et al, 2019), and this is particularly noticeable for biochar having smaller particle sizes (Esmaeelnejad et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2017) owing to carbon interaction with soil particles as biochar ages, ease of mix, enhanced aggregate formation and greater specific surface area per unit of mass among other attributes.…”

Biochar Role in the Sustainability of Agriculture and Environment

“…Its impact on soil amendment includes increased soil quality and plant growth with enhancement in crop yield. The response and behavior of biochar can be substantially influenced by its manufacturing process, soil conditions and types where applied, and as well as the kind of crop to be grown [10,11]. In keeping with the importance of biochar, many researchers have studied the adaptability of biochar for the improvement of soil and environmental health.…”

Biochar composites: Emerging trends, field successes and sustainability implications

“…Biochar is known to possess well‐developed porous structures (Kwiatkowski & Kalderis, 2020; Leng et al, 2021), abundant functional groups (Ahmad et al, 2014; Wang, Ok, et al, 2020), various inorganic nutrients (Dai et al, 2020; Smider & Singh, 2014) and high carbon stability (Li et al, 2014; Spokas, 2010). Therefore, biochar can be used for various purposes, including soil fertility improvement (Arif et al, 2020; El‐Naggar et al, 2019), contaminant immobilization (Palansooriya et al, 2020; Shen et al, 2018; Wang et al, 2020), wastewater treatment (Shaheen et al, 2019; Thompson et al, 2016; Xiang et al, 2020), flue gas purification (Shan et al, 2019; Shi et al, 2020) and in situ carbon storage (Han Weng et al, 2017; Hardy et al, 2017).…”