Effects of Biochar and Biochar–Compost Mix on Growth, Performance and Physiological Responses of Potted Alpinia zerumbet

Faisal Zulfiqar, Xiangying Wei, Narmeen Shaukat, Jianjun Chen, Ali Raza, Adnan Younis, Muhammad Nafees, Zainul Abideen, Abbu Zaid, Nadeem Latif, Muhammad Naveed and Kadambot H. M. Siddique
Additional contact information
Faisal Zulfiqar: Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan
Xiangying Wei: Institute of Oceanography, College of Geography and Oceanography, Minjiang University, Fuzhou 350108, China
Narmeen Shaukat: Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Jianjun Chen: Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, Environmental Horticulture Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, 2725 South Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703, USA
Ali Raza: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Molecular and Cell Biology, Oil Crops Research Institute, Center of Legume Crop Genetics and Systems Biology/College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Adnan Younis: Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Muhammad Nafees: Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan
Zainul Abideen: Muhammad Ajmal Khan Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Abbu Zaid: Plant Physiology and Biochemistry Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India
Nadeem Latif: Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan
Muhammad Naveed: Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Kadambot H. M. Siddique: The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6001, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: Container crop production has become increasingly popular over the last 50 years. A major component of container or potting media is peat. Peatlands are a natural carbon sink, and peat is a nonrenewable natural resource. Peat harvesting has become an important environmental issue. There is a growing effort to explore alternative organic materials to completely or partially replace peat as a medium component. Biochar is a carbon-rich product that has gained increasing interest as a component of growing media. In the present study, biochar was produced from rice straw. Peat/perlite/biochar (PPB; 40/30/30 v/v ) and peat/perlite/biochar/vermicompost (PPBC; 30/30/35/5 v/v ) were evaluated relative to a basal or control medium of peat/perlite (PP; 70:30 v/v ). Alpinia ( Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata Dwarf’) was used as a test plant. Amending biochar and biochar–compost mix increased the pH of the growing media. Hydrophysical properties including container capacity, bulk density, air space and total porosity were all within or near the standard ranges for soilless growing media. Chlorophyll a and b contents of A. zerumbet plants grown in PPB medium were reduced by more than 20% and 28%, respectively, compared to those grown in PP or PPBC media. The net photosynthetic rate of PPB-grown plants was more than 28% lower than those grown in PP and PPBC media. As a result, shoot and root dry weights of plants produced in PPB medium were more than 42% and 22% less, respectively, than those grown in PP and PPBC media. Although visual quality of PPB-grown plants was lower, they still exhibited marketable quality, which was largely due to the fact that their side shoots, leaf numbers, leaf areas, leaf thickness, and shoot diameters were comparable to those produced in PP and PPBC media. The present study showed that in a peat/perlite basal medium, substitution of peat by biochar derived from rice straw at 30% affected the growth of A. zerumbet plants, mainly in dry matter accumulation, but the plants were still marketable. On the other hand, plants grown in the same basal medium with peat replaced by the biochar at 35% plus an amendment of compost at 5% were comparable to those grown in the control medium. As the value of ornamental plants depends on their aesthetic appearance, a potting medium comprised of peat/perlite/biochar/vermicompost at 30/30/35/5 by volume is recommended for the production of A. zerumbet plants. The substitution of peat at 35% suggests that peat use can be reduced in the formulation of potting media, thus contributing to the conservation of peatlands.

Keywords: Alpinia; foliage plants; growing media; ornamental plants; peat alternatives; potted plants; soilless media; substrates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11226/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11226/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11226-:d:654078

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().