4.5 Article

Effects of Biochar and Biochar-Compost Mix as Soil Amendments on Soil Quality and Yield of Potatoes Irrigated with Wastewater

Journal

JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE AND PLANT NUTRITION
Volume 21, Issue 4, Pages 2600-2612

Publisher

SPRINGER INT PUBL AG
DOI: 10.1007/s42729-021-00549-2

Keywords

Crop productivity; Sandy soil; Soil amendment; Solanum tuberosum L; Wastewater irrigation

Funding

  1. India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships (I-CIMPACTS) [242077]
  2. Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research [293-2013]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Biochar, compost, and the biochar-compost mix positively impacted soil properties and potato yield under wastewater irrigation, without significantly affecting plant growth or physiological parameters. Proper selection of application rate and biochar-compost mixing ratio can lead to increased potato yield.
This study evaluated the impact of biochar, compost, and a biochar-compost mix on soil properties and yield of potatoes irrigated with wastewater. In each year of a 2-year (2017, 2018) field lysimeter study conducted under wastewater (WW) irrigation, a thrice-replicated completely randomized design (CRD) tested the effect of a factorial combination of 3 levels of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) straw biochar amendment (none, 1%, and 3%) and 2 levels of mixed green and table waste compost amendment (none, 7.5%) on soil physicochemical properties, along with potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plant growth, physiology, and yield components. Relative to the non-amended control, all amendment treatments had a significant positive effect (p <= 0.05) on soil physicochemical properties and crop yield; however, amendments did not affect plant growth or plant physiological parameters. Higher temperatures in the second year led to significantly lower yields than in the first year. In 2017, compost alone increased potato yield under wastewater irrigation, whereas in 2018, yield was greater at the 3% biochar amendment rate than at the 1% amendment rate. We conclude that amending soils with biochar and biochar-compost mix is a feasible way to grow potatoes under wastewater irrigation, but application rate and biochar-compost mixing ratio should be properly selected to achieve a high potato yield. Biochar and biochar-compost amendments improved conditions for potato growth under wastewater irrigation, suggesting that wastewater irrigation of crops grown in amended soil may prove a feasible approach to reducing the need to treat wastewater destined for use as irrigation water, while increasing water and nutrient cycling to improve food security.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available