Biochar-fortified Sil-KAB: Environment Friendly Briquette Technology to Improve Growth, Yield and Economics of Paddy

Abstract

Paddy is one of the most important staple foods in the world. The area under paddy cultivation is 43.79 million hectares and the production is 116.43 million tons in 2018-19. It is an important staple food consumed by 65 percent of the country's population. However, paddy cultivation is also associated with an unbalanced use of fertilizers. A balanced use of fertilizers is essential to increase the productivity of the harvest. Broadcast application of fertilizers during the Kharif season (In India, Kharif season is popularly considered to start in June and end in October.) leads to losses due to the dissolution of fertilizers in water and leaching from the field with the flooded water, thereby increasing the fertilizer requirement. Improper application of fertilizers leads to pollution of water bodies and is not environment friendly. Applying fertilizers through deep placement reduces the loss of fertilizers and is environmentally friendly. The field trial was conducted in Bhor during the Kharif season of 2022 to study the effect of biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes on growth, yield, economics and reduction  of methane emissions from the paddy field. The biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes have the potential to improve the efficiency of fertilizer use. The experiment was conducted with two treatments consisting of a conventional fertilizer application and biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes. The experiment was replicated with 14 farmers in two villages of Bhor, Pune. The results of the trial showed that the application of biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes significantly increased the height of the paddy at tillering, panicle initiation and at the harvest stage. Significantly highest number of tillering hill-1, number of productive tillering hill-1, panicle length, number of filled grains panicle-1, number of total grains panicle-1, percentage of grain filling, grain yield, straw yield and net return of paddy were observed in biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes treatment. The application of biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes significantly reduced methane emissions from the paddy field. The application of biochar fortified Sil-KAB briquettes significantly improves the growth, yield and profitability of paddy in the Kharif season.