Abstract
BackgroundThe residual effects of biochar are yet to receive adequate research attention in Sub-Saharan Africa despite the assumption that the positive effect of biochar may last longer on degraded tropical soil. Hence a field experiment was conducted to assess the residual effects of biochar, farmyard compost and NPK fertilizer applications on a Ferralsol in central Uganda. The field used for the study was previously used to conduct experiments for two seasons to assess the contribution of corncob biochar to the chemical properties of this highly degraded tropical soil.ResultThe co-applied biochar with compost and NPK fertilizer significantly (p < 0.05) increased some soil chemical properties such as soil pH, available phosphorus, soil organic carbon, and potassium than the control. The co-applied biochar with compost also significantly (p < 0.05) increased the soil pH and effective cation exchange capacity compared to the solely applied compost and NPK fertilizer. Collard plant height, canopy, stem girth, number of leaves, leaf length, and total biomass were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the biochar amended soil than the unamended soil.ConclusionIt was concluded that the addition of biochar with compost and NPK fertilizer had a significant residual effect on degraded tropical soils than solely applied NPK and compost.
Highlights
The long-term cultivation of most tropical soils has resulted in severe depletion of organic carbon, the disintegration of soil aggregate stability, serious soil erosion and deterioration of soil fertility (Ding et al 2016)
It was concluded that the addition of biochar with compost and NPK fertilizer had a significant residual effect on degraded tropical soils than solely applied NPK and compost
These results show that the experimental site soil is sandy clay loam, quite acidic and generally very poor in most plant nutrients when compared to the corncob biochar and farmyard manure compost
Summary
The long-term cultivation of most tropical soils has resulted in severe depletion of organic carbon, the disintegration of soil aggregate stability, serious soil erosion and deterioration of soil fertility (Ding et al 2016). As a measure to sustainably restore and manage these degraded tropical soils, biochar has been used to improve their physico-chemical properties (El-Naggar et al 2019). Many studies have concluded that combining biochar with organic or inorganic resources is very effective for reclamation of degraded soil (SánchezMonedero et al 2019; Liu et al 2012; Tang et al 2020). A field experiment was conducted to assess the residual effects of biochar, farmyard compost and NPK fertilizer applications on a Ferralsol in central Uganda. The field used for the study was previously used to conduct experiments for two seasons to assess the contribution of corncob biochar to the chemical properties of this highly degraded tropical soil
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