Characterization of Mulberry Stalk Biochar and its Impact on Soil Nutrients Release

An incubation study was conducted with graded levels of biochar to know the soil nutrients release till 120 days after incubation at Department of Soil Science and Agricultural chemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru during 2021. The experiment consisted of 4 treatments replicated five times and was laid out in a completely randomized design. The mulberry stalk biochar was characterized and recorded a pH of 8.53 and Electrical conductivity of 0.39 dS m-1. The physical properties like bulk density (0.32 Mg m-3) and maximum water holding capacity (93.14 %) were measured. Mulberry stalk biochar had 69.37 per cent of total carbon, 0.89 per cent Nitrogen, 0.22 per cent Phosphorus, 0.65 per cent Potassium and secondary nutrients like Calcium of 0.96 per cent, 0.48 per cent Magnesium and 0.18 per cent sulphur and micronutrients like Iron (493 mg kg-1), Zinc (34.59 mg kg-1), Manganese (94.1 mg kg-1), copper (20.55 mg kg-1) and boron (33.5 mg kg-1) were recorded. It was observed that with increased levels of biochar application to soil from 5 to 10 t ha-1 positively influenced the nutrient release pattern in the soil. Higher primary, secondary and micronutrients were recorded with application of biochar @ 10 t ha-1 (T3) at 60, 90 and 120 days after incubation and lower values were recorded in control treatment (T4).