Biochar, Bentonite and Potassium Humate Effects on Saline Soil Properties and Nitrogen Loss

Abstract

Aim: In order to study the effect of biochar, bentonite and potassium humate on saline soil characteristics, barley growth and nitrogen loss, a column experiment was conducted. Addition of the above mention materials was hypothesized to improve the characteristics of saline soil and decrease nitrogen loss in the leachate solution.
 Place and Duration of Study: Farm of Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt during the winter season of 2019.
 Methodology: Biochar and bentonite were added with rates 0, 5 and 10 g.kg-1; and the rates of potassium humate were 0, 5 and 10 mg.kg-1. Excess irrigations were implemented three times (on 12th, 24th, 36th days) during growing season. Leachate solution was collected after each excess irrigation from each column to determine nitrogen loss.
 Results: Main results show that total organic carbon and soil porosity were increased by increasing the addition rates of the studied materials, especially at the high rates of biochar and bentonite. Also, the availability of water significantly increased. Addition of biochar and bentonite gave the highest decreasing in leachate solution volume. Nitrogen loss was decreased significantly at the highest rates of the studied materials, where the decrement percentage in leachate solution reached at 36.07%, 35.82 and 23.81 at the highest rates of biochar, bentonite and potassium humate, respectively. That led to increasing the retention of available nitrogen in saline soil. Fresh and dry weights of barley plants were increased significantly by increasing the addition rates of all amended materials. Macronutrients (NPK) content and uptake were increased significantly by increasing the addition rates of the studied materials.
 Conclusion: Research results proved that changes in soil properties caused a significant increase in barley growth and nutrients uptake. Addition of biochar and bentonite were the best option for improving saline soil properties, barley growth and nutrients uptake and reduce nitrogen loss by improving nitrogen retention and decreasing the leachate volume.

Improving of Hayany Date Palm Production by Using K-Humate as Soil Application and Magnetic Water Irrigation at South Sinai Governorate Egypt

“…The best treatment was 300 gm /tree K humate with magnetic water which decreased pH with about 40%. This result is in agreement with Fanous et al, (2017), Abdeen, (2020 and Mohamed and Sherif, (2020). This result cause by increase the effect of magnetic field K humate on organic matter in the soil.…”

“…Soil organic matter significantly increased by addition of potassium humate acts as organic matter which promote of soil. It is agreement with Abdeen (2020). Furthermore, the effect of magnetic water has effect to increase soil organic matter.…”

“…While the humate exchanges H + ions with soil Na + to lower the Na content and increase H + levels, resulting in lower soil pH. So, where it releases relatively greater of organic acids in rhizosphere reported by Fanous et al (2017) and Abdeen, (2020). Regarding the effect of treatments on soil CEC after harvesting of Hayane date palm, data pointed out that soil CEC values were highly significant increased due to individual application of K humate, magnetic water, or combination with each other (Fig.…”

The Effect of Organic Amendments and Minerals on Increasing Soil Fertility (A review )

“…Many studies that used bentonite clay as a material for improving degraded soils, such as sandy and gypsum soils, indicated an increase in the growth, yield, and improvement of the quality of various crops, especially white and yellow corn, rice, beans, and barley, because the aim of improving soil characteristics is to increase the readiness of nutrients in it, raise its fertility, and use it in crop cultivation. To reduce its deterioration through the use of these improvers [47,48]. [49] reported their study on the role of bentonite in mitigating the harmful effects of drought stress in fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L. This study showed the morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of fenugreek under the influence of bentonite and water deficit.…”

Biochar, manure and superabsorbent improve the physical quality of saline‐sodic soil under greenhouse conditions

“…To ameliorate saline-sodic soils, Li et al (2020) revealed that applying a mixture of microporous potassium-silicon-calcium mineral fertilizer and furfural residue improved K s , soil structure, and quality. Other studies (Abdeen, 2020;Ibrahim et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2020) also showed that different biochar-amendment combinations (i.e., biochar-phosphorus fertilizer, biochar-bentonite-potassium humate, and biochar-gypsum) interacted and resulted in a reduction in BD, and an increment in K s , water retention, water availability, and aggregate stability in different soils.…”