Abstract
Background/objectives: Biochar has gained tremendous potential for mitigation of climate change and improving soil quality and productivity. This study aimed to develop biochar from banana leaves and evaluate its effect on soil properties and maize yield. Methods: Banana leaf-based biochar, prepared through slow pyrolysis (300-400 oC), was tested on maize crop in pot experiment using three biochar rates (B0 = 0 t ha-1, B1 = 20 t ha-1 and B2 = 40 t ha-1) along with a compost control (Bc = 5 t compost ha-1) and three chemical fertilizer (CF) rates (F0 = 0–Control, F1 = 120 kg N ha-1 and F2 = 120-90 kg NP ha-1) based on completely randomized design with three replications. Findings: The addition of banana leaf based amendments (BLBA) significantly improved soil properties except soil pH and EC. The application of higher biochar rate (40 t ha-1) revealed maximum soil CEC (23.65 cmolc kg-1), TOC (1.48%), TN (0.12%) and K (89.31 mg kg-1) while maximum P concentration (4.26 and 4.04 mg kg-1) was noted in NP and compost applied treatments. Likewise, higher biological (231.00 g pot-1) and grain yield (104.81 g pot-1) as noted in compost treatment, were at par with biochar rates of 20 and 40 t ha-1 which were due to improvement in nutrient uptake. Overall, higher rate of biochar (40 t ha-1) performed better over lower rate (20 t ha-1) and compost (5 t ha-1) in buildup of nutrients and improvement in soil properties. Applications/improvements: Therefore, lower biochar rate and compost of banana leaf origin with chemical fertilizers can serve as an alternate for maize nutrition and improvement in soil fertility and quality So, it is suggested that BLBA may be tested under long term field experiments on different crops. Keywords Banana leaves, biochar, calcareous soil, maize, nutrients, slow pyrolysis, yield
Highlights
Biochar has gained tremendous momentum in agriculture sustainability and environment safety in the present era [1]
Biochar prepared from banana leaf wastes showed highly alkaline pH (9.8) and high electrical conductivity (4.63 dSm-1) as compared to banana based compost having pH 7.04 and EC (1.88 dSm-1)
This study explored the influence of organic amendments integrated with chemical fertilizer on soil properties and growth of maize crop grown in calcareous soil under pot condition
Summary
Biochar has gained tremendous momentum in agriculture sustainability and environment safety in the present era [1]. It is produced from variety of feedstocks through process of pyrolysis with limited or no oxygen supply [2]. The agriculture operations across the world are generating huge quantities of agro-wastes with higher contribution from developing countries which evidenced that out of the world total land area (13 Gha), 1.5 Gha are under agriculture practices[5]. In case of Pakistan, out of total land area (79.61 million ha), 22.51 million ha are under agriculture generating millions of ton waste materials. The primary constituents of agriculture wastes are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin[6] where cellulose is contributing as major organic materials in the world and it is estimated that plants annually produce 4x1010 ton cellulose [7]
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