Impact of natural biochar on soil water retention capacity and quinoa plant growth in different soil textures

Abstract

Although data regarding the effect of different types of synthetic biochar on plant performance and physical and chemical characteristics of soil is widely available, the effect of natural biochar in this respect is not well known, so far. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of 650-million-years old natural biochar at three application levels of 0 %, 2.5 % and 5 % by weight on yield parameters of quinoa plant and the soil water retention characteristic curve in sandy loam, loam, and clay textural classes. The results showed that the application of 5 % natural biochar to the loam soil increased the thousand seed weight by 8 %, but adding 2.5 % of biochar to the sandy loam soil increased biological yield by 2 %, and in loam soil increased root volume by 409 %, compared to the control. The results of the physical parameters of the soil showed that the application of biochar in three soil textures caused an increase in moisture content at the field capacity (1.8 %-11.22 %), a decrease in macropores in the range of 10–46 %, and an increase in micropores in the range of 0.2–10 % in three soil textures. Therefore, it can be concluded that the potential of natural biochar storage affected the physical properties of the soil and increased soil water retention while improving important soil functions.