Biochar with Alternate Wetting and Drying Irrigation: A Potential Technique for Paddy Soil Management

Ahmad Numery Ashfaqul Haque, Md. Kamal Uddin, Muhammad Firdaus Sulaiman, Adibah Mohd Amin, Mahmud Hossain, Zakaria M. Solaiman and Mehnaz Mosharrof
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Ahmad Numery Ashfaqul Haque: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Md. Kamal Uddin: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Muhammad Firdaus Sulaiman: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Adibah Mohd Amin: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, 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, and the UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Mehnaz Mosharrof: Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 4, 1-35

Abstract: Over half of the world’s population depends on rice for its calorie supply, although it consumes the highest amount of water compared to other major crops. To minimize this excess water usage, alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation practice is considered as an efficient technique in which soil intermittently dried during the growing period of rice by maintaining yield compared to a flooded system. Continuous AWD may result in poor soil health caused by carbon loss, nutrient depletion, cracking, and affecting soil physical properties. Due to being a potential organic amendment, biochar has a great scope to overcome these problems by improving soil’s physicochemical properties. Biochar is a carbon enriched highly porous material and characterized by several functional groups on its large surface area and full of nutrients. However, biochar’s implication for sustaining soil physicochemical and water retention properties in the AWD irrigation systems has not been widely discussed. This paper reviews the adverse impacts of AWD irrigation on soil structure and C, N depletion; the potential of biochar to mitigate this problem and recovering soil productivity; its influence on improving soil physical properties and moisture retention; and the scope of future study. This review opined that biochar efficiently retains nutrients and supplies as a slow-release fertilizer, which may restrict preferential nutrient loss through soil cracks under AWD. It also improves soil’s physical properties, slows cracking during drying cycles, and enhances water retention by storing moisture within its internal pores. However, long-term field studies are scarce; additionally, economic evaluation is required to confirm the extent of biochar impact.

Keywords: rice; biochar; intermittent irrigation; nutrient availability; soil physical properties; water retention (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 (3)

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