Biochar amendment improves soil fertility and productivity of mulberry plant

Year 2017, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 226 - 237, 01.07.2017

Faruque Ahmed Md. Shoriful Islam Md. Toufiq Iqbal

https://doi.org/10.18393/ejss.291945

Cited By: 5

Abstract

Biochar has the potential to improve soil
fertility and crop productivity. A field experiment was carried out at the
experimental field of Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI), Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to examine the
effect of biochar on soil properties, growth, yield and foliar disease
incidence of mulberry plant. The study consisted of 6 treatments: control,
basal dose of NPK, rice husk biochar, mineral enriched biochar, basal dose +
rice husk biochar and basal dose + mineral enriched biochar. Growth parameters
such as node/meter, total branch number/plant, total leaf
yield/hectare/year were significantly increased in basal dose +
mineral enriched biochar treated plot in second year compared with the other
fertilizer treatments. In second year, the total leaf yield/hectare/year were
also 142.1% and 115.9% higher  in
combined application of basal dose + mineral enriched biochar and basal dose +
rice husk biochar, respectively, than the control treatment. The soil
properties such as organic matter, phosphorus, sulphur and zinc percentage were
significantly increased with both the (mineral enriched and rice husk) biochar
treated soil applied with or without recommended basal dose of NPK than the
control and only the recommended basal dose of NPK, respectively. Further, the
lowest incidences of tukra (6.4%), powdery mildew (10.4%) and leaf spot (7.6%)
disease were observed in second year under mineral enriched biochar treated
plot than the others. The findings revealed that
utilization of biochar has positive effect on the improvement of soil fertility
and productivity as well as disease suppression of mulberry plant.

Keywords

Soil fertility, systemic resistance, pyrolysis, decomposition, pruning

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