Effectiveness of Bamboo Biochar Combined with Compost and NPK Fertilizer to Improved Soil Quality and Corn Yield

Abstract

Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced from incomplete combustion of agricultural biomass through pyrolysis process. Bamboo biochar can increase soil carbon content, improve soil fertility and restore the degraded soil. Previously we found that bamboo-biochar was effective to improve maize yield with an optimum dosage 10.52 t ha-1 biochar. Here, we examined the effectiveness of bamboo-biochar combined with compost and NPK fertilizer to improved soil quality and crop yield. In this experiment, we used a randomized block design (RBD) with two factors, three replications. The first factor was biochar dosage (four levels), namely without biochar, biochar dosage 5.26 t ha-1, biochar dosage 10.52 t ha-1, biochar dosage 15.78 t ha-1. The second factor is the type of fertilizer with four types, namely: without fertilizer, compost, NPK, and compost+NPK. The results showed that biochar dosage 10.52 t ha-1 combined with compost+NPK could increase P and K availability, increase total soil microbes, and improved soil quality to be very good with soil quality rating value 18. The biochar dosage 10.52 t ha-1 combined with compost+NPK gave the dry weight seed-corn highest of 12.84 tons per hectare that increased 38.61% when compared with without biochar and with compost+NPK. The highest yield 12.84 tons of the dry weight of seed-corn per hectare provides the highest effectiveness-agronomic value 119.69% and feasibility of corn crop farming in drylands value 1.27.