Improvements in wheat productivity and soil quality can accomplish by co-application of biochars and chemical fertilizers

Jawaria Sadaf; Ghulam Abbas Shah; Khurram Shahzad; Nadeem Ali; Muhammad Shahid; Safdar Ali; Rai Altaf Hussain; Zammurad Iqbal Ahmed; Bouba Traore; Iqbal M I Ismail; Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.178

Improvements in wheat productivity and soil quality can accomplish by co-application of biochars and chemical fertilizers

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Dec 31:607-608:715-724. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.178. Epub 2017 Jul 27.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agronomy, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Murree Road-46300, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
² Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Vehari 61100, Pakistan.
⁴ International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid and Tropics (ICRISAT), Mali.
⁵ Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, P. O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Vehari 61100, Pakistan. Electronic address: muhammadimtiazrashid@ciitvehari.edu.pk.

PMID: 28711001
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.178

Abstract

The beneficial role of biochar is evident in most of infertile soils, however this is argued that increment in crop yield owing to biochar application does not always achieve in cultivated/fertile soils. The nutrient biochar believed to enhance crop yield and soil fertility than structural biochar that may offset the positive effect of chemical fertilizer on crop performance but improves soil structural properties. Therefore, we investigated the effect of biochars [produced from nutrient rich feedstocks like poultry manure (PMB) and farmyard manure (FMB) and structural feedstocks such as wood chips (WCB) and kitchen waste (KWB)], and chemical fertilizers (CF) when applied alone or in combination on soil chemical properties, wheat growth, yield and nitrogen uptake in a cultivated clay loam soil. Sole biochar treatments increased the total carbon and mineral nitrogen content that were 21 and 106% higher, respectively compared to control after 128days (P<0.001). Contrarily, sole biochars application did not increase wheat biological yield and N uptake compared to control (P>0.05) except PMB, the nutrient biochar (P<0.05). Compared to control, grain yield was 6 and 12% lower in WCB and FMB, respectively but not differed from KWB, PMB or WCB-CF. Conversely, co-application of biochars and CF treatments increased crop biological yield but the increment was the highest in nutrient biochars FMB or PMB (29 or 26%), than structural biochars WCB and KWB (15 and 13%), respectively (P<0.05). For N uptake, this increment varies between 16 and 27% and again nutrient biochar has significantly higher N uptake than structural biochars. Hence, nutrient biochars (i.e. PMB) benefited the soil fertility and crop productivity more than structural biochars. Therefore, for immediate crop benefits, it is recommended to use nutrient biochar alone or in combination with chemical fertilizer. Such practice will improve crop performance and the quality of cultivated soil.

Keywords: Animal waste; Biochar; Carbon storage; Crop performance; Kitchen waste; Mineral N.