Study of the influence of charged biochar on nutrient availability and yield of sweetcorn in Tamil Nadu state, South east of India

Abstract

With the world's population set to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, and with the expansion of agricultural land limited, the challenges facing agriculture have never been greater. The agricultural sector will have to find new techniques to feed the world while not aggravating climate change. Another challenge will be to increase the resilience of crops to climate change. These challenges will be particularly important for small-scale producers in tropical regions, who are likely to be more affected than large-scale producers. The aim of this work was to study an economically viable and effective method for improving soil fertility on a farm in the state of Tamil Nadu, in south-east India. To do this, a field study was carried out to compare the effects of charged biochar with urine or compost tea and applied at 3t/ha or 10t/ha on soil nutrient availability and sweetcorn yield. The experiment showed that urine-charged biochar had potentially better effects than compost tea-charged biochar. It also showed that BU3 has effects that could be compared to those of BT10 and BU10. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential of charged biochar on a small scale in tropical conditions.