Abstract
ABSTRACT Corn, one of the main grain crops in Brazil, needs to have its nutritional requirements fully satisfied to achieve high biological productivity. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of increasing doses of poultry litter biochar on nutrient concentrations in the leaves of hybrid corn BRS 2022 and in the soil after harvest. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design, with four replicates, evaluating six doses of biochar (0; 2.02; 4.05; 6.07; 8.10 and 10.12 t ha-1) and the plots composed of one plant per pot with a volume of 20 dm3. The collection of leaves for leaf diagnosis was carried out at the time of flowering, removing the opposite leaf from the ear base in the middle third region. These leaves were dried in a forced air circulation oven, 65 °C, for a period of 48 hours, ground, sieved through 20 mesh and analyzed for the concentrations of macronutrients in the leaf tissue. At the end of the experiment, 83 days after corn sowing, soil samples were collected as a function of the treatments and then analyzed chemically. Biochar application promoted an increase in the leaf contents of N, P and K, resulting in improvements in the nutritional status of plants for these nutrients. The chemical characteristics of the soil, analyzed after the corn harvest, revealed that there was an influence of the doses of biochar on the levels of calcium, organic carbon, potassium and phosphorus.
Highlights
The poultry sector generates an excess of organic waste, poultry litter, composed of sugarcane bagasse, feces and chicken feed, and with a high concentration of phosphorus and nitrogen, which has been used as a source of organic matter and nutrients in agricultural soil
The experiment was conducted in an agricultural greenhouse belonging to the Academic Unit of Agricultural Engineering of the Center for Technology and Natural Resources of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), in Campina Grande-PB, Brazil, with the following dimensions: 4 m x 8 m x 3 m width, length and height, respectively (Figure 1)
The biochar used in this study was produced in the Laboratory of Irrigation and Salinity - LIS of UFCG, from poultry litter generated in the rearing of broilers, under slow pyrolysis at 350 °C for 3h, using a muffle furnace, with the following chemical attributes: pH = 9.44; EC = 7.33 dS m-1; C/N = 18.76 and the following nutrients expressed in %: P2O5 = 4.08; K2O = 4.35; Ca = 5.04; Mg = 1.28; S = 0.41; Fe = 0.72; Mn = 0.05; Cu = 0.01; Zn = 0.05; B = 0.01 and organic carbon = 42.22
Summary
The poultry sector generates an excess of organic waste, poultry litter, composed of sugarcane bagasse (with the presence of lignin and cellulose), feces and chicken feed, and with a high concentration of phosphorus and nitrogen, which has been used as a source of organic matter and nutrients in agricultural soil. Biochar can be prepared from different types of agricultural waste, e.g. stems of rattlebox (Sesbania punicea), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), and corn cobs (Zea mays), wheat straw (Triticum aestivum), sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum officinarum) and animal manure (TASIM et al, 2019). Its economic importance is related to the various forms of use, from animal feed to high-tech industry. It is a cereal of great importance, especially for the low-income population
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
