Abstract
The objective of this study was to examine the effects of biochar compared to organic fertilizer on soil quality and wheat yield in the saline-alkaline lands. A 3-year field trial was conducted on moderately saline-alkaline land in the Yellow River Delta region (YRD) with six treatments: biochar (B1: 5 t, B2: 10 t, B3: 20 t ha−1 year−1) and organic fertilizer (OF1: 5 t, OF2: 7.5 t ha−1 year−1) as well as control (CK). The results showed that both biochar and organic fertilizer increased total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), NH4+-N, and NO3−-N, and reduced pH, thereby increasing soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), MBC/TOC ratio, and MBN/TN ratio, but organic fertilizer increased soil nutrients and microbial biomass better than biochar. Correlation analysis revealed that soil water content (SWC), soil salt content (SSC), and Na+ were the most important factors influencing wheat yield. When compared to CK, the SSC and Na+ decreased by 5.55–7.52% and 3.86–9.39%, respectively, and SWC increased by 5.14–5.62% in the biochar treatment, while they increased by 1.07–10.19%, 1.08–7.58%, and 2.96–3.84% in the organic fertilizer treatment, respectively. Accordingly, wheat yield of biochar treatment was 0.90–14.71% higher than that of organic fertilizer treatment (4.49–4.80 t ha−1) and CK (4.47 t ha−1). Collectively, B2 had the lowest SSC and Na+ and the highest yield and was significantly better than the organic fertilizer treatment, as well as efficiently increasing soil nutrients and microbial biomass, suggesting that it may be a better agricultural practice for improving soil quality and increasing wheat yield in the YRD.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Provincial (ZR2020ME251); Zibo School-City Integration Development Project (2019ZBXC245) for giving research grant, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41703099).
Funding
This study is funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Provincial, Grant/Award Number: ZR2020ME251; Zibo School-City Integration Development Project, Grant/Award Number: 2019ZBXC245; and National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Number: 41703099.
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Conceptualization: Shibin Wang, Peiling Gao. Data curation: Qingwen Zhang, Yulong Shi, Wei Wu, Xue Zhang, Mengzhao Li. Investigation: Xianglin Guo, Qingxin Lv, Qingmei Meng, Xianglin Guo. Methodology: Shibin Wang, Peiling Gao. Project administration: Peiling Gao, Qingwen Zhang. Resources: Peiling Gao, Qingwen Zhang, Yulong Shi, Qingmei Meng. Supervision: Peiling Gao, Qingwen Zhang. Writing—original draft: Shibin Wang. Writing—review and editing: Peiling Gao.
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Wang, S., Gao, P., Zhang, Q. et al. Biochar improves soil quality and wheat yield in saline-alkali soils beyond organic fertilizer in a 3-year field trial. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 19097–19110 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23499-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23499-3