The study objectives are to examine the effect of doses of tomato stems biochar (TSB) produced at different pyrolysis temperatures (250, 400, and 600 °C) on the leaching of nitrate, ammonium, and dissolved organic carbon, as well as quality indicators of sandy soil. The column experiment was including these treatments; control (no biochar added), 1% TSB250, 2.5% TSB250, 5% TSB250, 1% TSB400, 2.5% TSB400, 5% TSB400, 1% TSB600, 2.5% TSB600, and 5% TSB600. Each plastic column was filled with 1 kg of sandy soil. Tomato stems biochar was applied at three doses (1%, 2.5%, and 5% w/w). Soil available nitrogen increased significantly relative to the control treatment by 9.50%, 31.69%, 46.71%, 69.07%, 15.24%, 37.43%, and 75.57% under applying 1% TSB250, 1% TSB400, 2.5% TSB400, 5% TSB400, 1% TSB600, 2.5% TSB600, and 5% TSB600 treatments, respectively. Results showed significant decreases in cumulative leached ammonium over the control treatment by 20.77%, 27.04%, 37.09%, 34.04%, 40.43%, 48.61%, 18.26%, 25.26%, and 32.94% for 1% TSB250, 2.5% TSB250, 5% TSB250, 1% TSB400, 2.5% TSB400, 5% TSB400, 1% TSB600, 2.5% TSB600, and 5% TSB600 treatments, respectively. The amount of cumulative leached nitrate decreased significantly relative to the control treatment by 8.27%, 8.56%, 8.91%, 8.61%, 8.42%, 8.66%, 28.37%, 31.63%, and 34.40% for 1% TSB250, 2.5% TSB250, 5% TSB250, 1% TSB400, 2.5% TSB400, 5% TSB400, 1% TSB600, 2.5% TSB600, and 5% TSB600 treatments, respectively. The effectiveness of biochar treatments in reducing the cumulative leaching of ammonium decreased in the order TSB400 > TSB250 > TSB600. However, the effectiveness of biochar treatments on the cumulative leaching nitrate was in the order of TSB600 > TSB400 ≈ TSB250. Applying TSB at all pyrolysis temperatures and levels in sandy soil led to a significant increase in the cumulative leaching of dissolved organic carbon compared to the control treatment. Utilizing tomato stems biochar as a soil amendment is a promising strategy for significantly enhancing the quality indicators of sandy soil and reducing the leaching of ammonium and nitrate. This would reduce the loss of nitrogen fertilizers added to the soil and preserve groundwater from pollution.
In the current study, a field experiment of two years (2023 and 2024) was conducted on acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) to evaluate the effect of poultry litter (PL) amended with biochar (B) or zeolite (Z) in combination with mineral nitrogen fertilizer (MNF) on nutrient availability, growth, yield, and fruit quality of acid lime. This experiment was divided into five treatments, which included: (1) 50% of the recommended nitrogen (N) rate through MNF (50%MNF), (2) 100% of the recommended N rate through MNF (100%MNF), (3) 50% of the recommended N rate through MNF+poultry litter (PL+50%MNF), (4) 50% of the recommended N rate through MNF+ biochar-amended poultry litter (BPL+50%MNF), and (5) 50% of the recommended N rate through MNF+zeolite-amended poultry litter (ZPL+50%MNF). In the first season, applying ZPL+50%MNF significantly increased soil available nitrogen compared to the 100%MNF treatment. Soil available potassium significantly increased in the first season when BPL+50%MNF and ZPL+50%MNF were applied, compared with the rest of the treatments. Significant increase in soil available phosphorus in the first season with applying BPL+50%MNF compared to the 50%MNF, 100%MNF, and PL treatments. The highest acid lime yields were obtained from the BPL+50% MNF and ZPL+50% MNF treatments, recording 15.41 and 15.84 ton/ha, and 16.10 and 16.26 ton/ha in the first and second seasons, respectively. The highest values of total soluble solids, total acidity, and vitamin C content were observed when adding the BPL+50%MNF and ZPL+50%MNF treatments during two seasons. Based on these findings, the study suggests that the application of 10 kg of poultry litter amended with biochar or zeolite and 0.5 kg N as ammonium nitrate per acid lime tree enhances nutrient availability and fruit yield of acid lime while reducing reliance on nitrogen chemical fertilizers. It recommends considering poultry litter amended with biochar or zeolite for soil reclamation and as an alternative to traditional fertilizers.
The appropriate growth medium configuration is a crucial agronomic practice for water utilization, especially in arid areas. This issue is of particular importance in calcareous soils, where crop plants suffer from limited water and nutrient availability. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to estimate the yield performance and irrigation water use efficiency of sesame grown in different sowing patterns under different irrigation levels. A-2 year field trial was carried out in two summer seasons (2022 and 2023) in a strip-plot with a randomized complete block design using three replications. Three sowing patterns (flat, ridges, and beds) were allocated vertically. Irrigation water levels (100, 75 and 55% of evapotranspiration, ETc1, ETc2 and ETc3, respectively were applied and distributed horizontally. ETc1 × beds followed by ETc2 × ridges or beds in both seasons were the efficient combinations for producing the highest increases in capsules number plant−1. ETc1 × beds or ETc2 × ridges recorded the shortest height of the first capsule in both seasons. The maximum seed yield was achieved with ETc2 × beds in both seasons (1262.3 and 1313.3 kg ha−1), respectively, and ETc2 × ridges in the first season (1222.9 kg ha−1). ETc3 × beds (for oil % and oil yield ha−1 in both seasons) and ETc2 × beds (for oil yield ha−1 in the first season) exhibited the highest increases. ETc3 × beds interaction gave the maximum increase in irrigation water use efficiency in both seasons. The phenotypic correlation and path-coefficient analysis illustrated that the direct effects of seed index and capsules number plant−1 on seed yield plant−1 showed highly positive values (4.89 and 2.84 in 2022) and (1.01 and 1.01 in 2023). By adopting the beds method for cultivating sesame in arid zones, the irrigation programs should be modified via applying the deficit irrigation strategy to save water (about 25%) while keeping productivity. The findings provide new insights into optimizing resource use through beds sowing and moderate irrigation, contributing to sustainable sesame production in water-limited environments. Further, in order to develop stress-tolerant sesame varieties, breeders should focus primarily in breeding programs on improving capsules number plant−1 and seed index traits due to their great direct contribution influence on seed yield, as indicated by path-coefficient analysis.
Background Enriching biochar with nitrogen and using it as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer is a promising strategy to avoid excessive use of chemical nitrogen fertilizers. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of different types of nitrogen-enriched biochar on the soil’s chemical properties, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and growth of spinach in calcareous sandy soil. This pot experiment included 9 treatments: control (unamended soil, CK), willow branches biochar (WB), apple of Sodom biochar (ASB), marvel grass biochar (MB), halfa grass biochar (HB), nitrogen-enriched willow branches biochar (NEWB), nitrogen-enriched apple of Sodom (NEASB), nitrogen-enriched marvel grass biochar (NEMB), nitrogen-enriched halfa grass biochar (NEHB). Nitrogen-enriched biochar and biochar were added at a level of 5 g kg−1 soil. This experiment was conducted on the spinach plant. Results Soil available nitrate increased significantly with adding NEHB, NEMB, NEWB, and NEASB compared to the control treatment. Adding HB, NEHB, NEMB, NEWB, and NEASB to the soil significantly improved the fresh and dry shoot of the spinach plant compared to the control. Applying HB, NEHB, NEMB, NEWB, and NEASB treatments increased the fresh shoot of the spinach plant over the control by ~62%, 245%, 237%, 275%, and 196%, respectively. On the other hand, adding MB, WB, and ASB treatments decreased the fresh shoot of the spinach plant relative to the control by ~14%, 3%, and 14%, respectively. Applying different types of nitrogen-enriched biochar significantly improved the NUE of spinach plant compared to the original biochar treatments. Conclusions Our results suggest that nitrogen-enriched biochar can be a promising strategy in sustainable agriculture to increase soil nutrient availability, improve spinach growth, and enhance nitrogen use efficiency in spinach. Nitrogen-enriched biochar can serve as an effective and cost-efficient alternative to chemical nitrogen fertilizers.
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