Biochar and slow-releasing nitrogen fertilizers improved growth, nitrogen use, yield, and fiber quality of cotton under arid climatic conditions

Sobia Manzoor,Mubashra Yasin,Muhammad Afzal,Rashid Iqbal,Tanveer-Ul-Haq Tanveer-Ul-Haq,Abdul Ghaffar,Subhan Danish,Muhammad Habib-Ur-Rahman,Saeed Ahmad,Iqra Ghafoor,Fahim Nawaz,Ghulam Haider

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-16576-6

Abstract

The efficiency of nitrogenous fertilizers in South Asia is on a declining trajectory due to increased losses. Biochar (BC) and slow-releasing nitrogen fertilizers (SRNF) have been found to improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in certain cases. However, field-scale studies to explore the potential of BC and SRNF in south Asian arid climate are lacking. Here we conducted a field experiment in the arid environment to demonstrate the response of BC and SRNF on cotton growth and yield quality. The treatments were comprised of two factors, (A) nitrogen sources, (i) simple urea, (ii)neem-coated urea, (iii)sulfur-coated urea, (iv) bacterial coated urea, and cotton stalks biochar impregnated with simple urea, and (B) nitrogen application rates, N1=160 kg ha-1, N2 = 120 kg ha-1, and N3 = 80 kg ha-1. Different SRNF differentially affected cotton growth, morphological and physiological attributes, and seed cotton yield (SCY). The bacterial coated urea at the highest rate of N application (160 kg ha-1) resulted in a higher net leaf photosynthetic rate (32.8 μmol m-2 s-1), leaf transpiration rate (8.10 mmol s-1), and stomatal conductance (0.502 mol m-2 s-1), while leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), and seed cotton yield (4513 kg ha-1) were increased by bacterial coated urea at 120 kg ha-1 than simple urea. However, low rate N application (80 kg ha-1) of bacterial coated urea showed higher nitrogen use efficiency (39.6 kg SCY kg-1 N). The fiber quality (fiber length, fiber strength, ginning outturn, fiber index, and seed index) was also increased with the high N application rates than N2 and N3 application. To summarize, the bacterial coated urea with recommended N (160 kg ha-1) and 75% of recommended N application (120 kg ha-1) may be recommended for farmers in the arid climatic conditions of Punjab to enhance the seed cotton yield, thereby reducing nitrogen losses.

Highlights

Cotton is the major fiber crop widely cultivated across the globe (Ali et al 2015; Abbas, 2020)
Much N applied into the soil is lost to the environment which leads to soil degradation, emission of greenhouse gases, groundwater pollution, and reduced N use efficiency (Spiertz, 2009; Zhang et al 2010)
The recorded data

Summary

Introduction

Cotton is the major fiber crop widely cultivated across the globe (Ali et al 2015; Abbas, 2020). Cotton genotypes, cropping systems, and soil types may contribute to low nitrogen use efficiency (Spiertz, 2009; Bronson, 2008; Nangial et al 2019). Different measures such as the use of bioinoculants(Khaitov et al, 2019), maintenance of optimum plant population and varying N application rates (Li et al 2017), and the use of overhead sprinkler system (Bronson et al 2011) have been shown to improve NUE in a cotton production system. In Pakistan, some measures have already been taken to improve NUE, including balanced use of fertilizers (Raza et al 2018), adopting zero tillage (Khan et al 2018), and use of slow-release fertilizers (Naz and Sulaiman, 2016)

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Conclusion