Additions of optimum water, spent mushroom compost and wood biochar to improve the growth performance of Althaea rosea in drought-prone coal-mined spoils

Rana Roy; Avelino Núñez-Delgado; Shirin Sultana; Jinxin Wang; Ammara Munir; Martin L Battaglia; Tanwne Sarker; Mahmoud F Seleiman; Milon Barmon; Ruiqi Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113076

Additions of optimum water, spent mushroom compost and wood biochar to improve the growth performance of Althaea rosea in drought-prone coal-mined spoils

J Environ Manage. 2021 Oct 1:295:113076. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113076. Epub 2021 Jun 19.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China; Department of Agroforestry & Environmental Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, 3100, Bangladesh. Electronic address: ranaroy.aes@sau.ac.bd.
² Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Engineering Polytechnic School, campus univ., 27002, Lugo, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: avelino.nunez@usc.es.
³ Open School, Bangladesh Open University, Gazipur, 1705, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Electronic address: ssultana20@gmail.com.
⁴ College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-Environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: jxwang2002@126.com.
⁵ Department of Biotechnology, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan. Electronic address: ammara.munir@vu.edu.pk.
⁶ Cornell University, Department of Animal Sciences, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA. Electronic address: mlb487@cornell.edu.
⁷ School of Economics and Finance, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: tanwnesarker@gmail.com.
⁸ Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Shibin El-kom, 32514, Egypt. Electronic address: mseleiman@ksu.edu.sa.
⁹ Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: milonbarmon@nwafu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zhangruiqi@nwafu.edu.cn.

PMID: 34153587
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113076

Abstract

Ecosystem degradation as a result of coal mining is a common phenomenon in various regions of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid zones. The implementation of appropriate revegetation techniques can be considered crucial to restore these degraded areas. In this regard, the additions of spent mushroom compost (SMC) and wood biochar (WB) to infertile and degraded soils have been reported to enhance soil fertility and plant growth under water (W) deficit conditions. However, the combined application of W, SMC and WB to coal mine degraded soils, to promote Althaea rosea growth and facilitate subsequent restoration, has not been explored yet. Hence, in the current study a pot experiment was carried out by growing A. rosea on coal mine spoils to assess the influence of different doses of W, SMC and WB on its morpho-physiological and biochemical growth responses. The results indicated that several plant growth traits like plant height, root length and dry biomass significantly improved with moderate W-SMC-WB doses. In addition, the simultaneous application of W-SMC-WB caused a significant decrease in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) (by 7-56%), superoxide anion (O₂^●‒) (by 14-51%), malondialdehyde (MDA) (by 23-46%) and proline (Pro) contents (by 23-66%), as well as an increase in relative water content (by 10-27%), membrane stability index (by 2-24%), net photosynthesis rate (by 40-99%), total chlorophylls (by 43-113%) and carotenoids (by 31-115%), as compared to the control treatment. The addition of SMC and WB under low-W regime enhanced leaf water use efficiency, and soluble sugar content, also boosting the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase in leaf tissues, thus reducing the oxidative stress, as proved by low levels of H₂O₂, O₂^●‒, MDA and Pro contents. Finest growth performance under optimum doses of W (60% field capacity), SMC (1.4%) and WB (0.8%) suggest that revegetation of A. rosea with the recommended W-SMC-WB doses would be a suitable and eco-friendly approach for ecological restoration in arid degraded areas.

Keywords: Biochar; Growth responses; Organic compost; Revegetation; Water deficit.

MeSH terms

Agaricales*
Althaea*
Charcoal
Coal
Composting*
Droughts
Ecosystem
Hydrogen Peroxide
Soil
Water
Wood

Substances

Coal
Soil
biochar
Water
Charcoal
Hydrogen Peroxide