Biochar Reduces the Adverse Effect of Saline Water on Soil Properties and Wheat Production Profitability

Mohamed E. A. El-sayed, Mohamed Hazman, Ayman Gamal Abd El-Rady, Lal Almas, Mike McFarland, Ali Shams El Din and Steve Burian
Additional contact information
Mohamed E. A. El-sayed: Agriculture Research Center, Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute, Giza 12112, Egypt
Mohamed Hazman: Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), 9 Gamma Street, Giza 12619, Egypt
Ayman Gamal Abd El-Rady: Agricultural Research Center, Wheat Research Department, Field Crops Research Institute, Giza 12619, Egypt
Lal Almas: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Paul Engler College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, West Texas A & M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA
Mike McFarland: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
Ali Shams El Din: Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Benha 13511, Egypt
Steve Burian: Alabama Water Institute, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: The goal of this study is to assess the use of saline groundwater in combination with soil amendments to increase the efficiency of wheat production in new agricultural soil in Egypt. The experiment was conducted during the two consecutive growing seasons, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, at the Shandaweel Agricultural Research Station, Sohag, Egypt. In this study, plants of Shandaweel 1 spring bread wheat cultivar were grown under the combinations of the two water treatments, i.e., freshwater (307.2 ppm) and saline water (3000 ppm (NaCl + MgCl 2 )) representing groundwater in Egypt delivered by drip irrigation and the two biochar rates, i.e., zero and 4.8 ton/ha as a soil amendment. The cob corn biochar (CCB) was synthesized by using the slow pyrolysis process (one hour at 350 °C). The results revealed that saline water reduced the grain yield ratio by 8.5%, 11.0%, and 9.7% compared to non-saline water during seasons 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 and over seasons, respectively. Concerning, combined over seasons, the biochar addition enhanced the grain yield by 5.6% and 13.8% compared to non-biochar addition under fresh and saline irrigation water conditions, respectively. Thus, the results indicated and led to a preliminary recommendation that saline groundwater is a viable source of irrigation water and that biochar seemed to alleviate salinity stress on wheat production and in reclaimed soils of Egypt.

Keywords: salinity; biochar; drip irrigation; wheat; groundwater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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