
Story of the week
TITLE OF PUBLICATION:EFFECTS OF BIOCHAR AND POULTRY MANURE ON SOIL CHARACTERISTICS AND THE YIELD OF RADISH
JOURNAL: Scientia Horticulturae
VOLUME: 243 Pages 457-463
AUTHOR: Dr. Adekiya A. O.
What is it about?
It about application of biochar and poultry manure for the productivity of soil and radish.
Why is it important?
Decline in soil fertility has been identified as a major biophysical root cause for the declining per capita food availability from small holder farms in the tropical Africa. The rapid decomposition of organic matter in the tropics means that nutrient retention is a limiting factor to soil productivity. One emerging management strategy to maintain higher yields is the addition of biochar. Biochar is the product of pyrolysis of organic materials in the absence of oxygen and at high temperature. When added to soil, biochar has been reported to increase available nutrients and prevent their leaching, stimulate activity of agriculturally important soil micro-organisms, act as effective carbon sink for several hundred years, sequester atmospheric CO2 in soil, suppress emissions of other greenhouse gases and mitigate the detrimental effects of agrochemicals. While biochar has proven to have a positive conditioning effect on soil, it may be limited as a nutrient supplier alone, because of its relatively low nutrient composition and recalcitrance to biodegradation. For a short season crop like radish, the expected benefit of the biochar alone may not be achieved within the first year, therefore for improved soil and radish productivity in the first year of cropping, addition of poultry manure may be the answer
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Story of the week