Assessing the effects of biochar, sewage sludge, and mineral fertilization on soil characteristics and maize yield

Silva, Gabriel Henrique Maximo Clarindo; Silva, William Ramos; Ximenes, Diogo Henrique de Sá Veloso; Vieira, Clarissa Buarque; Souza, Edivan Rodrigues de; Nascimento, Clístenes Williams Araújo do; Almeida Junior, Agenor Bezerra de; Biondi, Caroline Miranda

doi:10.1590/1678-4499.20230243

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SOIL AND PLANT NUTRITION - Article • Bragantia 83 • 2024 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4499.20230243 linkcopy

Assessing the effects of biochar, sewage sludge, and mineral fertilization on soil characteristics and maize yield

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Sewage sludge (SS) and biochar offer a sustainable approach for improving nutrient supply and soil characteristics, but more research is needed to compare their efficacy against mineral fertilizers. First, this study assessed the effects of rice husk biochar (RHB) rates (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 t·ha^-1) on the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of a soil grown with maize. Then, the RHB rate providing the highest maize biomass was compared to SS and NPK fertilization. Maize yield and mineral composition were also evaluated. The results showed that the tested fertilizers had varying effects on increasing maize yield and altering soil properties. While RHB improved water retention capacity, cation exchange capacity, microbial biomass, and maize yield when compared to the control group, SS proved to be more effective in enhancing P availability. The maize yield with SS was five times greater than the regional maize productivity and equal to the performance of NPK fertilization. Considering the substantial positive impact of SS on soil characteristics, it is recommended that local farmers apply 20 t·ha^-1 of this fertilizer. This not only has the potential to replace traditional mineral fertilization, but also offers the additional advantage of improving overall soil quality.

Key words Zea mays L.; organic fertilizers; soil conditioners; sustainable agriculture

Characteristics	Rice husk biochar	Sewage sludge
Density (g·cm^-3)	1.0	---
Pore volume (cm³·g^-1)	0.0044	---
pH (H₂O)	5.73	7.62
Organic carbon (%)	47.67	31.06
Total N (g·kg^-1)	1.40	18.5
C/N	34.50	16.79
P (g·kg^-1)	1.90	9.94
K (g·kg^-1)	2.23	0.42
Ca (mg·kg^-1)	1.62	57.64
Mg (mg·kg^-1)	0.71	1.57
Mn (mg·kg^-1)	713.07	109.98
Fe (mg·kg^-1)	351.27	5,083.70
Cu (mg·kg^-1)	4.28	52.67
Zn (mg·kg^-1)	15.40	418.62
As (mg·kg^-1)	ND	2.93
Cd (mg·kg^-1)	0.45	0.27
Cr (mg·kg^-1)	1.77	0.41
Ni (mg·kg^-1)	0.77	36.45
Pb (mg·kg^-1)	0.65	9.30

Characteristics	Soil
Chemical
pH (H₂O)	6.00
P (mg·kg^-1)	9.80
Total organic carbon (g·kg^-1)	18.1
N (g·kg^-1)	1.09
K (cmol_c·kg^-1)	0.06
Ca (cmol_c·kg^-1)	0.75
Mg (cmol_c·kg^-1)	2.26
Al (cmol_c·kg^-1)	0.21
Cation exchange capacity (cmol_c·kg^-1)	7.19
Physical
Bulk density (g·cm^-3)	1.45
Total porosity (%)	43.46
Sand (g·kg^-1)	500.00
Silt (g·kg^-1)	400.00
Clay (g·kg^-1)	100.00

Characteristics	Treatment
Characteristics	Control	NPK	Rice husk biochar	Sewage sludge
Bulk density (g·cm^-3)	1.50 ± 0.0 a	1.48 ± 0.0 a	1.34 ± 0.0 b	1.37 ± 0.0 b
Total porosity (%)	45.17 ± 0.1 c	46.23 ± 0.8 c	52.62 ± 0.9 a	48.34 ± 0.5 b
Macroporosity (%)	8.33 ± 0.5 b	7.85 ± 0.1 b	11.67 ± 1.1 a	6.68 ± 1.0 b
Microporosity (%)	14.69 ± 1.0 b	15.52 ± 1.7 b	20.13 ±1.3 a	16.03 ± 2.0 b
Criptoporosity (%)	18.34 ± 1.7 ab	20.61 ± 1.8 ab	15.52 ± 0.0 b	21.81 ± 3.2 a
Field capacity (cm·cm^-3)	0.31 ± 0.0 c	0.32 ± 0.0 bc	0.34 ± 0.0 ab	0.36 ± 0.0 a
Available water (cm·cm^-3)	0.12 ± 0.0 b	0.13 ± 0.0 b	0.19 ± 0.0 a	0.14 ± 0.0 b
Wilting point (cm·cm^-3)	0.19 ± 0.0 ab	0.19 ± 0.0 ab	0.15 ± 0.0 c	0.22 ± 0.0 a

Treatments	Soil basal respiration µg CO₂ g·soil^-1 day^-1	Microbial biomass carbon	Microbial coefficient	Metabolic coefficient
Treatments	Soil basal respiration µg CO₂ g·soil^-1 day^-1	-----------------mg·kg^-1---------------
Control	228.94 ± 4.0 b	40.25 ± 15.6 c	3.46 ± 1.0 c	7.75 ± 1.0 a
NPK	262.01 ± 7.7 a	144.66 ± 21.3 b	11.98 ± 2.2 ab	1.75 ± 0.1 b
Rice husk biochar	266.47 ± 4.1 a	154.44 ± 22.8 ab	9.04 ± 2.9 bc	1.78 ± 0.3 b
Sewage sludge	258.33 ± 1.6 a	196.40 ± 24.7 a	16.36 ± 1.73 a	1.18 ± 0.1 b

Treatments	pH (H₂O)	Total organic carbon	Cation exchange capacity	Available P	K⁺
Treatments	pH (H₂O)	g·kg^-1	cmol_c·kg^-1	mg·kg^-1	cmol_c·kg^-1
Control	5.33 ± 0.3 c	11.66 ± 0.1 ab	6.69 ± 0.4 ab	3.54 ± 0.8 b	0.04 ± 0.0 b
NPK	5.76 ± 0.1 ba	11.79 ± 0.1 b	6.03 ± 0.3 b	18.55 ± 5.0 a	0.07 ± 0.0 a
Rice husk biochar	5.51 ± 0.1 bc	13.14 ± 0.5 a	8.18 ± 1.1 a	7.84 ± 2.1 b	0.08 ± 0.0 a
Sewage sludge	6.07 ± 0.2 a	12.60 ± 0.1 ab	7.09 ± 0.7 ab	22.85 ± 5.5 a	0.1 ± 0.0 a

Treatments	Leaf P content	Grain P content	Leaf K content	Grain K content	Dry leaf mass g·plant^-1
Treatments	-----------------------------------g·kg^-1------------------------------------				Dry leaf mass g·plant^-1
Control	1.18 ± 0.1 b	1.3 ± 0.2 a	5.52 ± 0.3 ab	38.35 ± 2.3 b	27.88 ± 9.41 b
NPK	7.23 ± 0.5 a	0.78 ± 0.1 a	3.70 ± 0.7 b	41.61 ± 6.0 ab	51.14 ± 0.87 a
Rice husk biochar	1.38 ± 0.1 b	1.35 ± 0.1 a	6.30 ± 1.5 a	38.35 ± 2.3 b	44.13 ± 8.95 a
Sewage sludge	1.4 ± 0.6 b	1.41 ± 0.6 a	7.8 ± 1.3 a	48.12 ± 3.0 a	39.97 ± 3.46 ab

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[1] ND: non detectable; P, Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, As, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb content was extracted with HNO3 + HCl according to method 3051a (USEPA 1998) and analyzed by colorimetry (P), flame photometry (K), and inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectrometry. RHB pore volume e density were determined according to Brewer et al. (2014).