The Different Expressions of Draft Cherry Tomato Growth, Yield, Quality under Bamboo and Rice Husk Biochars Application to Clay Loamy Soil

Abstract

This study evaluated the different expressions of cherry tomato growth, yield and quality under bamboo and rice husk biochar applications to soil. The experiment was conducted under glasshouse conditions at Hakozaki campus, Kyushu University, Japan and consisted of 5 treatments, namely 1) no biochar application as a control; 2) 2% (RH2) and 3) 5% (RH5) of rice husk biochar; 4) 2% (BB2) and 5) 5% (BB5) of bamboo biochar. Bamboo biochar application significantly improved tomato growth, including number of leaves, fresh biomass yield of aboveground and underground parts for BB5; number of fruit; fresh yield from 24% -25% for BB2 and BB5. In particular, both bamboo and rice husk biochar application at two rates 2% and 5% had positive effects on tomato quality, demonstrated by the increased total sugar content from 56% to 91%, and the enhancement of ascorbic acid content for BB2 and RH2 by 12% and 17%, respectively. Those improvements reflected the soil physiochemical property changes after biochar application, including the increase in plant available water for bamboo biochar amendment before and after cultivating by 25% -38% and 9% -18%, respectively, compared with those of control; and the increased total soil N for bamboo biochar treatments (11% -14%). Generally, all data above support bamboo biochar utilization for the purpose of improving soil properties and developing crop production.

Enhancing soil water holding capacity and provision of a potassium source via optimization of the pyrolysis of bamboo biochar

“…In this study, the water holding capacity of bamboo char varied from 3.22 to 4.21 g g −1 , while that of Miscanthus biochar, Cateenga, and Cashew wood biochars was 0.31-0.49, 0.61-2.64, and 0.28-0.60 g g −1 , respectively (Gondim et al 2018;Mimmo et al 2014). Bamboo biochar also increased the plant-available water in soil to a much greater extent than that of rice husk char (Hien et al 2017). Among all produced bamboo biochars, the 600 °C products showed the greatest potential in terms of enhancing water holding capacity.…”

“…Experimental research has highlighted the potential for bamboo biochar to increase soil available potassium (K) and K uptake by crops (Wang et al 2018a, b), total soil K (Wang et al 2018a, b), and plant-available water in the soil (Hien et al 2017). Bamboo biochar application has also been found to increase soybean nodules (Wang et al 2018a, b) and the total sugar content of tomato fruits (Suthar et al 2018).…”

Biomass Source of Biochar and Genetic Background of Tomato Influence Plant Growth and Development and Fruit Quality

“…The specific impacts of BC amendment to soil include alterations in bulk density, porosity, and water retention; these properties make the exchange of water, nutrients, and gases more efficient, resulting in enhanced crop productivity [17,18]. Productivity in a diverse range of crops, including tomatoes, lettuce and other leafy vegetables, beans, potatoes, wheat, maize, and rice, among others, has been evaluated in soils amended with BC derived from various feedstocks [19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Additionally, since BC is a stable source of carbon and nutrients, it enables the proliferation of beneficial microbial communities, which in turn enhance soil tilth and health [2,26].…”

Metatranscriptomic analysis of tomato rhizospheres reveals insight into plant-microbiome molecular response to biochar-amended organic soil

“…While biochar is gaining traction in modern agriculture, different variations of its production have been practiced throughout history, and the use of pyrolyzed organic biomass for the enhancement of soil fertility can be traced back thousands of years (Tenenbaum, 2009;Glaser and Birk, 2012). In efforts to reclaim this millennia-old strategy, and to modernize it to address current global environmental challenges to crop production, biochar-based soil amendment and the consequent impacts on plant growth and yield have been evaluated for a diverse range of crops (Hien et al, 2017;Li and Shangguan, 2018;Velez et al, 2018;Woldetsadik et al, 2018;Faloye et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2019;Nzediegwu et al, 2019;Sánchez-Monedero et al, 2019).…”