Response of Coffee Husk Biochar on Growth of Faba Bean on Nitisol and Soil Nutrients

Abstract

Soil fertility depletion and the associated soil acidity has become a serious problem to crop production in most highlands of Ethiopia Fortunately, such problems can be reclaimed by the application of biochar as soil amendments which can be sequestered in the soil for several years.A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of biochar on soil properties, growth response and nutrient uptake of faba bean. The design employed was a randomized complete block with four replications.  The parameters analyzed includes: Trace Metals using DTPA extraction, macronutrient using 1 N ammonium acetate (pH =7) extraction. Dry ashing method was used to determine nutrient uptake of plant samples. The studied soil and plant data were collected and subjected to analysis of variance and treatment means were compared at the 0.05 probability level using list significant difference test. The results revealed that application of biochar significantly improved growth of faba bean and soil nutrient content. The highest values for soil chemical parameters such as available phosphorus and exchangeable cations were obtained from the application of 20 t/ha CHB. Similarly, the highest growth performance of faba bean including plant height, leaf number, chlorophyll content, nodulation number, root and shoot biomass, uptake of N, P and K were recorded from biochar-amended  soil. From this study, it can be suggested that the application of biochar could be an alternative promising amendment to lime for acid soil management and sustainable crop production. But, further investigations need to be continued under field conditions across different soil and crop types.

Keywords: Amelioration, coffee husk biochar, faba bean, Nitisols

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-10-02

Publication date:May 31^st 2021