Abstract
Biochar application to soil is important for crop production and productivity in Ethiopia mainly where high rainfall is available. This study was conducted in Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine campus during 2019 cropping season to determine the effect of cow urine and water quenched biochar with the biochar application rate on wheat yield and yield components. A wheat pot experiment was sown with two biochar rates (6 t ha-1 and 4 t ha-1 quenched with (cow urine and water). The number of effective tillers, spike length, seeds per spike, above dry biomass and thousand seed weight revealed non-significant differences. However, plant height, yield per pot and harvest index indicated significant variation due to the treatment combination of cow urine quenched, water quenched biochar and biochar rate over the control treatment. Six (6) tones biochar quenched with cow urine showed the maximum result and followed by 4 tones biochar quenched with cow urine. Biochar application has a significant advantage over control treatment.
 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(1): 35-39, June 2020
Highlights
Ethiopia is one of the largest producers of wheat in sub-Saharan Africa (Tanner and Mwangi, 1992)
The number of effective tillers, spike length, seeds per spike, above dry biomass and thousand seed weight revealed nonsignificant differences due to the treatment combination effect of biochar quenched with water and with cow urine accompanied by biochar rate
Whereas minor differences have seen in between the treatments, obtained biochar quenched with water and with cow urine
Summary
Ethiopia is one of the largest producers of wheat in sub-Saharan Africa (Tanner and Mwangi, 1992). Though Ethiopian agro-climatic condition is suitable for wheat production, productivity is low This is because of depleted soil fertility (Woldeab et al, 1991; Tanner et al, 1993), low levels of chemical fertilizer usage limited knowledge on time and rate of fertilizer application (Woldeab et al, 1991; Tanner et al, 1993; Amsal et al, 2000; CSA, 2012), and the unavailability of other modern crop management inputs (Woldeab et al, 1991). Biochar is a carbon-rich product created when any biomass is heated to temperature greater than 250oC in low or absence of oxygen (Antal and Gronli, 2003) It is the solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass though pyrolysis, is a potential soil amendment and carbon sequestration medium (Lehmann and Joseph, 2009). Nutrient loss can be a limitation to the utilization efficiency of fertilizers and can be minimized using slow-release nitrogen fertilizers (Gentile et al, 2009) or increasing adsorption sites
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