The potential of biochar for reducing the negative effects of soil contamination on the phytochemical properties and heavy metal accumulation in wheat grain

Abstract

The food industry faces the problem of soil contamination and consequently the deterioration of the quality of plant products. Here, we present a study on evaluation of the effect of fertilization with sewage sludge (SL) with varying, rates of biochar (BC 2.5, 5 and 10% of DW) on yield quality and the accumulation of heavy metals in wheat grains. The greatest grain yield with the highest content of protein and gluten as well as the highest total content of phenols and flavonoids, was obtained when SL+5%BC fertilization was applied. The addition of 5%BC and 10%BC to SL resulted in the greatest increase in the antioxidant capacity of grain. Among phenolic acids, syringic acid was found in the largest amount in grain in the SL+2.5%BC treatment. A significant decrease in Pb accumulation in wheat grain after application of SL+5%BC and a successive decrease in Al content with increasing BC addition were observed. To increase the quality of wheat grains and to reduce the bioaccumulation of harmful elements after the application of biochar to the soil is important in the context of food safety and health of humans especially in food production on acidic and/or contaminated soils.

Mitigating Salinity Stress in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) through Biochar and NPK Fertilizers: Impacts on Physio-Biochemical Behavior and Grain Yield

“…In addition, Refs. [50,51] found that the addition of biochar can also impact on phenolic compounds in wheat and in Viola cornuta flowers, respectively. The simultaneous application of NPK and biochar had a positive effect on barley performance under control conditions, while the response of plants varied depending on the salt concentration and the amount of biochar in the soil.…”

The interaction effect of superabsorbent and biochar on physiological properties of Satureja rechingeri under drought-stress

“…Plants increase phenolic compounds in stress conditions due to the increase of free radicals so that they can initiate appropriate defense reactions. Some studies have reported an increase in flavonoids due to the use of biochar in plants (Różyło et al, 2017;Hashemi & Shahani, 2019). The increase in flavonoids can be explained by the relative humidity and the amount of nitrogen in the leaves (Yang et al, 2018;Shiwakoti., et al, 2016), and the biochar improves those properties.…”

Biochar Influences Phytochemical Concentrations of Viola cornuta Flowers

“…Biochar is known to influence the amino acid (phenylalanine) concentration of plants [66], which may affect phenol compound synthesis, as they are the pre-cursor of phenols in the Shikimic acid pathway [65]. Ró żyło et al [67] found that adding biochar with sewage sludge can also impact phenolic and flavonoid concentration in wheat, but no obvious trend was seen in phytochemical concentration. This was similar to findings in this study, where we did not find any significant trend in the change of specific phytochemicals in Viola.…”