Agro-based biochars combined with nitrogen fertilizer improve soil nutrient status and rice performance in contrasting soils of southern Nigeria.
Jonathan AA, Nwafor OS, Samuel AA, Atinuke AE, Catherine AA
Soil Health
Charred kitchen scraps or garden waste mixed into your vegetable beds can make fertilizer work harder and leave your soil richer after each growing season — not poorer.
Researchers in Nigeria took two types of charred agricultural waste — burned rice husks and burned sawdust — and mixed them into soil along with regular nitrogen fertilizer to grow rice. Compared to using fertilizer alone or nothing at all, these biochar-fertilizer combos produced more grain, healthier plants, and left the soil with better nutrients afterward. The sawdust char blend gave the best yields, but the rice husk char blend was nearly as good, suggesting that whatever charred organic waste is locally available can make a real difference.
Key Findings
Sawdust biochar + urea produced the highest grain yield at 4,202.59 kg per hectare, outperforming urea alone and the control.
Biochar-urea combinations improved post-harvest levels of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium — especially in the top 15 cm of soil.
Rice husk biochar + urea achieved statistically comparable grain and straw yields to sawdust biochar + urea, indicating both locally available agro-waste biochars are effective.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Adding agricultural waste biochars (rice husks or sawdust, both charred) alongside standard nitrogen fertilizer significantly boosted rice yields and improved soil health after harvest in Nigerian field trials, outperforming fertilizer alone.
Abstract Preview
Agro-based biochars used together with mineral nitrogen fertilizer are increasingly recognized as climate-smart soil amendments for improving soil fertility and sustaining crop productivity. Howeve...
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