Addition of Biochar to a Sandy Desert Soil: Effect on Crop Growth, Water Retention and Selected Properties

Abstract

Agricultural and environmental applications of biochar (BC) to soils have received increasing attention as a possible means of improving productivity and sustainability. Most previous studies have focused on tropical soils and more recently temperate soils. However, benefits of BC addition to desert soils where many productivity constraints exist, especially water limitations, have not been widely explored. Thus, three experiments were designed using a desert soil from Saudi Arabia to address three objectives: (1) to evaluate the effect of BCs produced from date palm residues added at 8 t ha −1 on wheat growth, (2) to determine the effect of BC addition and BC aging in soil on water retention, and (3) to reveal the effect of BC on selected soil physical (bulk density, BD; total porosity; TP) and chemical (pH; electrical conductivity, EC; organic matter, OM; cation exchange capacity, CEC) properties. The feedstock (FS) of date palm residues were pyrolyzed at 300, 400, 500, and 600 • C, referred to here as BC300, BC400, BC500, and BC600, respectively. The BC products produced at low temperatures were the most effective in promoting wheat growth when applied with the NPK fertilizer and in enhancing soil water retention, particularly with aging in soil, whereas high -temperature BCs better improved the selected soil physical properties. The low-temperature BCs increased the yield approximately by 19% and improved water retention by 46% when averaged across the incubation period. Higher water retention observed with low-temperature BCs can be related to an increased amount of oxygen-containing functional groups in the low-temperature BCs, rendering BC surfaces less hydrophobic. Only the BC300 treatment showed a consistent positive impact on pH, OM, and CEC. Pyrolysis temperature of date palm residue along with aging are key factors in determining the potential benefit of BC derived from date palm residues added to sandy desert soil.crop yield is largely dependent on BC production temperature and the feedstock (FS) [5][6][7]. In a recent review, it was reported that the fertilizing value of BC and its nutrient availability, especially N and P, decrease with increasing pyrolysis temperature [5]. Therefore, the effect of BC on crop yield and plant nutrition was found to be variable, and its use as a sole amendment was not always effective, having its supplementation with mineral fertilizers sometimes necessary to promote crop growth [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Some studies found BC to be the most effective when it is applied with mineral fertilizers [8,14,[17][18][19]. Therefore, positive impact of BC on soil fertility and crop yield is not always certain, and it highly depends on FS, BC production temperature, and most importantly soil type [3,[5][6][7]20].BC benefits to soil also include improvement of soil physical properties. For instance, soil bulk density (BD) and porosity was found to be improved after BC application [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. BC was also reported to increase the soil ability to retain ...

Effects of Biochar Application in a Sorghum Crop under Greenhouse Conditions: Growth Parameters and Physicochemical Fertility

“…Growing In agreement with earlier results reported by Khaled and Schoenau [55] and Laghari et al [44], the application of biochar produced at low temperature (B400) leads to higher biological yield compared to the control treatment and biochar produced at higher temperatures (B600) in a sandy-loam growing substrate. Olmo et al [56], who worked with olive-tree pruning-derived biochar, found significant differences for biochar application in root morphology as a result of the effect on some nutrient availability and the subsequent fine root proliferation.…”

Biochar addition coupled with nitrogen fertilization impacts on soil quality, crop productivity, and nitrogen uptake under double‐cropping system

“…Soil Moiture Content could be higher due to differences in BD between treatments, because higher BD decreased the spaces where water could be retained. The same results were documented by Alotaibi andSchoenau (2019), Jindo, Mizumoto, Sawada, Sánchez-Monedero, andSonoki (2014), and Omondi et al (2016). Akhtar, Andersen, and Liu (2015) reported that B fertilization might be used as a mitigating factor for improving water storage in soil.…”

“…Akhtar, Andersen, and Liu (2015) reported that B fertilization might be used as a mitigating factor for improving water storage in soil. However, the effect of biochar is directly proportional to biochar rate, soil texture, and pyrolysis temperature (Alotaibi & Schoenau, 2019). The addition of biochar and nitrogen significantly improved the soil chemical properties, that is, pH, SOC, TN, AP, and AK (Table 4).…”

Improvement in Soil Characteristics of Sandy Loam Soil and Grain Quality of Spring Maize by Using Phosphorus Solublizing Bacteria

“…The results of the current study indicate that fresh PSB together with RNPK significantly increases soil water retention (Table 9), relative to the RP alone or PSB alone or CT (non-inoculant control). These results are supported by a number of other studies [68,69]. The difference observed in higher water retention in PSB together with RNPK might be due to slow water movement by PSB colonialization in the column ( Figure 3A) against different time durations compared to other treatments.…”

“…In the end, when we compared the impact of fresh PSB and incubated PSB on sandy soil, it was clear that fresh PSB may be hydrophobic and then hydrophilic when PSB is incubated with prolonged contact with moist sandy soil, as was observed in other past studies [63,68,70,71]. The correlation amonf differet studied parameter are given in the Table 9.…”