Combined Use of Biochar with 15 Nitrogen Labelled Urea Increases Rice Yield, N Use Efficiency and Fertilizer N Recovery under Water-Saving Irrigation

Ahmad Numery Ashfaqul Haque, Md. Kamal Uddin, Muhammad Firdaus Sulaiman, Adibah Mohd Amin, Mahmud Hossain, Zakaria M. Solaiman, Azharuddin Abd Aziz and Mehnaz Mosharrof
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Ahmad Numery Ashfaqul Haque: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Md. Kamal Uddin: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Muhammad Firdaus Sulaiman: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Adibah Mohd Amin: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Mahmud Hossain: Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh
Zakaria M. Solaiman: UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Azharuddin Abd Aziz: Department of Chemistry Malaysia, Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, Research and Instrumentation Section, Petaling Jaya 46661, Malaysia
Mehnaz Mosharrof: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: Biochar is a potential carbon-rich soil amendment that improves the physicochemical properties of soil, besides acting as a controlled release fertilizer. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of biochars on rice yield, fertilizer use efficiency and recovery under water-saving irrigation by 15 N isotopic tracer study. Two types of irrigation as alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and continuous flooding (CF), and four types of biochar treatments such as rice husk biochar (RHB) with 15 N urea, oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar (EFBB) with 15 N urea, 15 N urea alone and control, were applied to assess their impact on rice. About 4% reduced grain yield with 18% improved water productivity was achieved by the AWD regime over the CF, whereas RHB and EFBB significantly increased rice yield compared to unamended soil. RHB and EFBB enhanced the water productivity up to 25.3%. The fertilizer N uptake and recovery were boosted by RHB and EFBB up to 18.8% and 24.5%, respectively. RHB and EFBB accelerated the agronomic use efficiency and partial factor productivity of N (up to 21% and 8%, respectively). RHB and EFBB profoundly enhanced the pH, the total C and N and the available N (NH 4 + and NO 3 − ) of the post-harvest soil. This study suggests that adding RHB and EFBB with urea improves fertilizer N utilization and soil N retention, and their combination with AWD could enhance rice yield with better water productivity due to their porous structure and controlled N release capacity.

Keywords: rice; biochar; scanning electron microscopy; 15 N isotope; yield and nitrogen use efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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