Biochar-based organic amendments on soil health, nutrient status and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum)

Abstract

Cultivation of quality potatoes ensures a good earning compared to low quality, especially in terms of tuber weight and starch content. Therefore, an experiment was laid out to find out the impact of an organic amendment based on the combinations of biochar, vermicompost, poultry manure, and bone meal for the enrichment of soil health and quality of potato crops at the research farm of Lovely Professional University, Punjab. The parameters of pH, EC, organic carbon, soil microbial biomass, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, labile carbon, and particulate organic carbon (POC) were used to understand the soil health improvement, while starch content and grading systems ranging from A to C were used for the quality of the potato. Among the treatments, most of the parameters were recorded as statistically significant at p>0.05. The highest improvement in terms of pH, EC, organic carbon, soil microbial biomass, nitrogen content, labile carbon, and particulate organic carbon (POC) was recorded in T3 (7.58, 0.39 dSm-1, 0.53 %, 333.3 µg g-1, 198.3 kg ha-1, 3.71 and 7.0 g kg-1 of soil) compared to T0 (7.38, 0.32 dSm-1, 0.44 %, 325.33 µg g-1, 171.5 kg ha-1, 2.33 and 3.0 g kg-1 g kg-1), while the phosphorus and potassium contents were estimated highest in T2 (17.4 and 255 kg ha-1). The quality parameters like starch content and grading quality of potato tubers were also influenced positively and estimated significantly highest in T3 (53.60 % and 153.7 q ha-1 of A grade potato). This study has shown the potential to improve the quality of potato tuber by providing a desirable soil environment to coordinate with potato plants.