Purpose Crop wastes are underused organic resources due to low heating value and slow decomposition rates. However, conversion to biochar through pyrolysis could offer agronomic and environmental benefits. The study compared the pyrolysis of biochar from crop wastes, assessed their physicochemical properties for the purposeful use to improve soil fertility, crop productivity and their carbon sequestration potential. Methods Biochar was produced from crop wastes such as cassava residues, corncobs, rice husk, sawdust, coffee husk, and peanut using an Elsa barrel pyrolyser. Standard laboratory procedures were used to analyze pH, CEC, total carbon and nitrogen and exchangeable cations.
Contribution/Originality: This study contributes to existing literature that biochar; a product of pyrolysis contains some important plant nutrients and properties which can significantly affect soil fertility and crop growth.It further seeks to assess how the growth of arabica coffee seedlings is affected by different types of organic fertilizers.Between the two most commercial species: Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) and Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora),Arabica coffee provides a superior quality beverage but is less resistant to different pests (fungi, nematodes, and insects), compared to Robusta coffee [4,5]. The caffeine, antioxidant compounds and characteristic flavor of the beverage which beneficially influence human health, has been the major motivation for the mass production and
Coffee berry disease (CBD) caused by Colletotrichum kahawae, is the main disease that affects arabica coffee production in Africa. Isolates of C. kahawae were collected from different altitude in the West Region of Cameroon and characterised for cultural and morphological variations. The results showed a significant variation among C. kahawae isolates related to their morpho-cultural features with respect to altitude. All isolates had cottony mycelium appearance. Four types of colony colours were identified: Grey, whitish, greyish and pinkish. Mycelia growth rate of isolates varied significantly from 4.32 to 7.11 mm/day. Dominant shape of conidia was cylindrical acute and round ends of CBDBHa1, CBDBHa2 and CBDBHa3 isolates from the high altitude, followed by cylindrical round at both ends of isolates CBDBMa1 and CBDBMa2 from medium altitude. Fusiform and reniform conidia shapes were observed with isolates CBDNBa1 and CBDNBa2 from low altitude. Conidia size and sporulation capacity of C. kahawae isolates increased with altitude. Conidia size ranged from 3.82 to 13.46 µm in length and from 1.13 to 1.69 µm in width; while sporulation capacity varied from 169.06 ×10 4 to 438.36 ×10 4 conidia/ml. This study highlights some variations in cultural and morphological characteristics of C. kahawae with respect to altitude.
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