Effects of maize straw biochar application on soil physical properties, morph-physiological attributes, yield and water use efficiency of greenhouse tomato

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) production was threatened by the inefficiency of fertilizers, contributing to the deterioration of the soil environment under greenhouse conditions in southern China. Biochar application could ameliorate the physical properties of soil and enhance the growth and productivity of tomatoes. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted with four biochar addition rates of 0% (BA 0 ), 1% (BA 1 ), 3% (BA 3 ), and 5% (BA 5 ). Results showed that the soil physical properties, morph-physiological indicators, yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of tomatoes with biochar addition were significantly higher than those of tomatoes without biochar addition. Among the different treatments, BA 5 provided the highest total porosity (53.09%), field capacity (40.73%), plant height (72.5 cm), net photosynthetic rate (16.04 mmol/m 2 •s), total dry matter (184.65 g/plant), yield (54.9 t/hm 2 ), and WUE (38.5 kg/m 3 ). The yield and WUE increased from 44.5 t/hm 2 and 31.2 kg/m 3 under BA 0 , respectively, to 54.9 t/hm 2 and 38.5 kg/m 3 under BA 5 , respectively. The results suggest that BA 5 can maximize improvements in soil physical properties to augment plant growth, thereby increasing the yield and WUE of tomatoes. However, the effects of BA 3 and BA 5 on WUE were not significantly different. Thus, from the perspective of economic investment, BA 3 is recommended.

Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Biochar-Enriched Substrates on Safety and Quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) as Relevant Model Crop

“…The increase in plant growth is not always correlated with a boost in fruit production, as elsewhere reported for biochar-based tomato cultivation both in the open-field 39 and greenhouse. 14,18,42 Our yield reduction is higher than the one reported elsewhere, which is ascribable to the high BC percentage used. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where a 40% biochar-based substrate is investigated for tomato pot cultivation.…”

“…Conversely, plants grown in BC20 and BC40 exhibited smaller fruit sizes, with BC40 showing a substantial reduction in yield and producing smaller fruits with dimensions of 31.04 ± 6.01 mm for length and 30.2 ± 3.0 mm for diameter. The increase in plant growth is not always correlated with a boost in fruit production, as elsewhere reported for biochar-based tomato cultivation both in the open-field and greenhouse. ,, Our yield reduction is higher than the one reported elsewhere, which is ascribable to the high BC percentage used. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where a 40% biochar-based substrate is investigated for tomato pot cultivation.…”