Biochar amendment improves soil fertility and productivity of mulberry plant

Biochar has the potential to improve soil fertility and crop productivity. A field experiment was carried out at the experimental field of Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI), Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of biochar on soil properties, growth, yield and foliar disease incidence of mulberry plant. The study consisted of 6 treatments: control, basal dose of NPK, rice husk biochar, mineral enriched biochar, basal dose + rice husk biochar and basal dose + mineral enriched biochar. Growth parameters such as node/meter, total branch number/plant, total leaf yield/hectare/year were significantly increased in basal dose + mineral enriched biochar treated plot in second year compared with the other fertilizer treatments. In second year, the total leaf yield/hectare/year were also 142.1% and 115.9% higher  in combined application of basal dose + mineral enriched biochar and basal dose + rice husk biochar, respectively, than the control treatment. The soil properties such as organic matter, phosphorus, sulphur and zinc percentage were significantly increased with both the (mineral enriched and rice husk) biochar treated soil applied with or without recommended basal dose of NPK than the control and only the recommended basal dose of NPK, respectively. Further, the lowest incidences of tukra (6.4%), powdery mildew (10.4%) and leaf spot (7.6%) disease were observed in second year under mineral enriched biochar treated plot than the others. The findings revealed that utilization of biochar has positive effect on the improvement of soil fertility and productivity as well as disease suppression of mulberry plant.

___

  • Agboola, K., Moses, S.A., 2015. Effect of biochar and cowdung on nodulation, growth and yield of soybean (Glycine max l. Merrill). International Journal of Agriculture and Biosciences 4(4): 154-160.
  • Bernardet, J.F., Bowman, J.P., 2006. The genus Flavobacterium. In: The Prokaryotes: A handbook on the biology of bacteria. Dworkin, M., Falkow, S., Rosenberg, E., Schleifer, K.H., Stackebrandt, E., (Eds.). Springer, New York, USA. pp.481–531.
  • Biswas, A., Alamgir. M., Haque, S.M.S., Osman, K.T., 2012. Study on soils under shifting cultivation and other land use categories in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bangladesh. Journal of Forestry Research 23(2): 261–265.
  • Bureau, L.É., 1873. Moraceae In: Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. De Candolle, A.P. (Ed.). Tuettel and Wurtz, Paris, France, pp. 211–288.
  • Chan, K.Y., Van Zwieten, L., Meszaros, I., Dowine, A., Joseph, S., 2007. Agronomic values of green waste biochar as a soil amendment. Australian Journal of Soil Research 45(8): 629–634.
  • Dume, B., Mosissa, T., Nebiyu, A., 2016. Effect of biochar on soil properties and lead (Pb) availability in a military camp in South West Ethiopia. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 10 (3): 77–85.
  • Elad, Y., Cytryn, E., Harel, Y.M., Lew, B., Graber, E.R., 2011. The biochar effect: plant resistance to biotic stress. Phytopathologia, Mediterranea 50(3): 335–349.
  • Elad, Y., David, D.R., Harel, Y.M., Borenshtein, M., Ben Kalifa, H., Silber, A., Graber, E.R., 2010. Induction of systemic resistance in plants by biochar, a soil-applied carbon sequestering agent. Phytopathology 100(9): 913–921.
  • Gebremedhin, G.H., Bereket, H., Berhe, D., Belay, T., 2015. Effect of biochar on yield and yield components of wheat and post-harvest soil properties in Tigray, Ethiopia. Journal of Fertilizers and Pesticides 6: 158.
  • Graber, E.R., Harel, Y.M., Kolton, M., Cytryn, E., Silber, A., David, D.R., Tsechansky, L., Borenshtein, M., Elad, Y., 2010. Biochar impact on development and productivity of pepper and tomato grown in fertigated soilless media. Plant and Soil 337(1): 481-496.
  • Harel, Y.M., Elad, Y., Rav-David, D., Borenstein, M., Shulchani R., Lew B.,Graber, E.R., 2012. Biochar mediates systemic response of strawberry to foliar fungal pathogens. Plant and Soil 357(1): 245–257.
  • Harel, Y.M., Elad, Y., Rav-David, D., Cytryn, E., Borenstein, M., Agra, O., Ben Kalifa, H., Shulchani, R., Sechansky, L., Tsechansky, Silber, A., Graber, E.R., 2012b. Induced systemic resistance to disease in plants by biochar. Biological Control of Fungal and Bacterial Plant Pathogens, IOBC-WPRS Bulletin 78: 141-147
  • Huber, D.M., Grahan, R.D., 1999. The role of nutrition in crop resistance and tolerance to diseases. In: Mineral nutrition of crops: fundamental mechanisms and implications. Rengel, Z. (Ed.). Food Products Press, New York USA. pp. 169–206.
  • Huq, I.M.S., Alam, M.D., 2005. A handbook on analyses of soil, plant and water. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. pp.13–40.
  • Igarashi, T., 2002. Effectiveness of soil amendments like rice husk charcoal. In: Handbook for soil amendment of tropical soil. Association for International Cooperation of Agriculture and Forestry, AICAF.(Ed.). Tokyo, Japan. pp.127–134.
  • Kookana, R.S., Sarmah, A.K., Van Zwieten, L., Krull, E., Singh, B., 2011. Biochar application to soil: Agronomic and environmental benefits and unintended consequences. Advances in Agronomy 112: 103- 143.
  • Laskaris, P., Tolba, S., Calvo-Bado, L., Wellington, L., 2010. Coevolution of antibiotic production and counter resistance in soil bacteria. Environmental Microbiology 12(3): 783–796.
  • Lehmann,J., Joseph, S., 2009. Biochar for Environmental Management. Science, Technology and Implementation. Earthscan from Loudledge, New York, USA. 907p.
  • Lehmann, J., Kern, D.C., German, L.A., McCan, J., Martins, G.C., Moreira, A., 2003. Soil fertility and production potential. In; Amazonian dark earth; origin, properties, managements. Lehmann, J, Kern, D.C., Glaser, B., Woods, W. (Eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. pp.105–124.
  • Lehmann, J., Gaunt, J., Rondon, M., 2006. Biochar sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems- a review. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 11(2): 403–427.
  • Linnaeus, C., 1753. Morus. P. 968 in Species plantarum. Stockholm: Impensis Laurentii Salvii. Vol. (2): 3.
  • Major, J., Rondon, M., Molina, D., Riha, S.J., Lehmann, J., 2010b. Maize yield and nutrition during 4 years after biochar application to a Colombian savanna oxisol. Plant and Soil 333(1): 117–128.
  • Mercado-Blanco, J., Bakker, P.A., 2007. Interaction between plants and beneficial Pseudomonasspp; exploiting bacterial traits for crop production. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 92(4): 367–389.
  • Nodwell, J.R., 2007. Novel links between antibiotic resistance and antibiotic production. Journal of Bacteriology 189(10): 3683–3685.
  • Oguntunde, P.G., Fosu, M., Ajayi, A.E., van de Giesen, N., 2004. Effects of charcoal production on maize yield, chemical properties and texture of soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils 39(4): 295–299.
  • Petersen, L., 1996. Soil analytical methods soil testing Management and development. Soil Resources Development Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh 1–28.
  • Piper, C.S., 1950. Soil and plant analysis. Adelaide University, Hassel Press, Australia. 368p.
  • Podder, M., Akter, M., Saifullah, M.S.A., Roy, S., 2012. Impacts of plough pan on physical and chemical properties of soil. Journal of Environmental Science and Natural Resources 5(1): 289–294.
  • Rai, V.R., Mamatha, T., 2005. Seedling diseases of some important forest tree species and their management. In. Working papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 11. pp. 51-63. Available at (Access date : 20.10.2016) : http://www.metla.eu/julkaisut/workingpapers/2005/mwp011-09.pdf
  • Sohi, S., Krul, E., Lopez-Capel, E., Bol, R., 2010. A review of biochar and its use and function in soil. Advances in Agronomy 105: 47–82.
  • Soltanpour, P.N., Workman, S., 1997. Modification of the NH4HCO3-DTPA soil test to omit carbon black. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 10(11): 1411–1420.
  • Steel, R.G.D., and Torrie, J.H., 1984. Principles and procedures of statistics: A biometrical approach. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, USA. 663p.
  • Subbiah, B.V., Asija, G.L. 1956. A rapid procedure for estimation of available nitrogen in soils. Current Science 25(8): 259-260.
  • Vijayan, K., Srivastava, P.P., Raju, P.J., Saratchandra, B., 2012. Breeding for higher productivity in mulberry. Czech Journal of Genetics and Plant Breeding 48 (4): 147-156.
  • Walkley, I., Black, A., 1934. An Examination Degtijareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of chromic acid titration method. Soil Science 37: 29-38.