102553 Can Walnut Shell-Based Biochar Provide Potassium to Support Plant Productivity?.
Poster Number 187-822
See more from this Division: ASA Section: Environmental Quality
See more from this Session: Biochar Period: If You Have Data We Want to See It (includes student competition)
Abstract:
This research evaluates the agronomic benefits of a locally produced walnut biochar, as a soil amendment providing potassium for crop growth and promoting soil quality, in a plot study of carrot production. Carrots are grown for eight weeks in continuously row crop soil collected from the CSU Chico University farm under an experimental design with individual treatments of biochar (2.5 & 5 tonnes/ha) and mushroom compost (2.5 & 5 tonnes/ha) and different combinations of 2.5 and 5 tonnes/ha of each respectively along with a no-amendment control. It was concluded that there was a direct correlation between the increasing rate of applied biochar and compost to larger concentrations of potassium when the soil and carrot flesh were analyzed; therefore biochar may help improve soil potassium fertility.
A central goal of this research is to develop an integrated assessment model that quantifies greenhouse gas emissions reductions associated with local amendment utilization and ecosystem services associated with enhanced soil quality.
See more from this Division: ASA Section: Environmental Quality
See more from this Session: Biochar Period: If You Have Data We Want to See It (includes student competition)