REDUCTION OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER APPLICATION BY USING BIOCHAR FOR THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF RICE CV. BRRI dhan 29

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at research field, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur to assess the reduction of chemical fertilizer application by using biochar for the growth and yield of rice cv. BRRI dhan 29. The experiment was performed with five treatments viz. T1 = Recommended doses of N, P, K and S, T2 = Biochar 10 t ha-1, T3 = Biochar 7.5 t ha-1 + half recommended doses of N, P, K and S, T4 = Biochar 5 t ha-1 + half recommended doses of N, P, K and S and T5 = Biochar 2.5 t ha-1 + half recommended doses of N, P, K and S. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. The highest plant height (102.35 cm) and the number of tillers hill-1 (26.35) was found in the treatment T1 which was statistically similar to the treatment T3 with the values 99.93 cm and 25.89, respectively. The panicle length (25.01 cm), number of spikelets hill-1 (14.30), number of grains panicle-1 (194.50) and 1000-grain weight (25.03 g) were found maximum in the treatment T3 which was statistically similar to the treatment T1 with the values 24.89 cm, 13.87, 193.50 and 24.37 g; respectively. The highest grain yield (7.46 t ha-1) and straw yield (9.92 t ha-1) was found on T1 treatment which was statistically similar to the treatments T3 (7.42 and 9.86 t ha-1). The highest biological yield (17.28 t ha-1) was measured in the treatment T3. These results suggest that application of 7.5 t ha-1 biochar with half recommended doses of N, P, K and S may reduce 50% of N, P, K and S for rice cultivation (cv. BRRI dhan 29) as these treatments acquire statistically similar production to solely chemical fertilizer applications. However, further research is needed on biochar production, cost efficiency for biochar application and environmental aspects of biochar application.