article · Land
Water scarcity poses a major challenge to crop cultivation by degrading soil biochemical health. In an experimental wire house study, biochar was evaluated as a soil amendment to mitigate the effects of drought on wheat crops. Wheat plants were subjected to water stress during two critical stages of development, specifically tillering and grain filling. Soil was treated with biochar at two application rates before planting. The findings reveal that drought stress consistently harms soil biochemical properties, but adding biochar helps counteract these adverse effects. The higher biochar application rate of 38 grams per kilogram proved particularly effective, substantially outperforming the lower rate. It produced significant increases in available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, soil carbon, nitrogen mineralisation, and soil respiration, driven by enhanced soil microbial activity after harvest.
Drought severely impairs soil fertility and limits agricultural productivity. Demonstrating that biochar amendments can sustain nutrient availability, carbon storage, and microbial activity under water stress provides vital guidance for managing agricultural soils facing moisture deficits. These insights are essential for developing practical soil management strategies to safeguard crop production in drought-prone regions.
This research could inform the formulation and dosage of biochar-based soil conditioners for cereal growers in drought-affected environments. Soil amendment producers and agricultural extension services could use these dosage benchmarks to enhance nutrient retention and biological activity in dry soils. Because the testing was restricted to a wire-house pot trial, the work remains at an early, controlled experimental stage and requires field-scale validation before commercial deployment.
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Different soil amendments are applied to improve soil properties and to achieve higher crop yield under drought conditions. The objective of the study was to investigate the role of biochar for the improvement of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth and soil biochemical properties under drought conditions. A pot experiment with a completely randomized design was arranged with four replications in a wire house. Drought was imposed on two critical growth stages (tillering and grain filling) and biochar was applied to the soil 10 days before sowing at two different rates (28 g kg−1 and 38 g kg−1). Soil samples were collected to determine the soil properties including soil respiration and enzymatic parameters after crop harvesting. Results showed that water stress negatively affects all biochemical properties of the soil, while biochar amendments positively improved these properties. Application of biochar at 38 g kg−1 provided significantly higher mineral nutrients, Bray P (18.72%), exchangeable-K (7.44%), soil carbon (11.86%), nitrogen mineralization (16.35%), and soil respiration (6.37%) as a result of increased microbial activities in comparison with the 28 g kg−1 rate.
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DOI: 10.3390/land10111125
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