Some of the physical properties of the soil that have been reported to improve after the application of biochar are bulk density, porosity, soil aggregation, soil structure, infiltration rate and water retention (Blanco-Canqui, 2017). The nutrients content of biochar is dependent on the pyrolysis time, feedstock type and pyrolysis temperature (Ronsse et al. Biochar is a carbonaceous material produced from the by-product of feedstock pyrolysis in a limited or no oxygen condition (Verheijen et al.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The 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 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. 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 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.
0 kommentar(er)
