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IMPROVEMENT IN MAIZE (ZEA MAYS L) GROWTH AND QUALITY THROUGH INTEGRATED USE OF BIOCHAR

KAWSAR ALI¹, MUHAMMAD ARIF², FAROOQ SHAH¹, AAMIR SHEHZAD¹, FAZAL MUNSIF²,

ISHAQ AHMAD MIAN³ AND AFAQ AHMAD MIAN⁴

¹Department of Agriculture, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan

²Department of Agronomy; ³Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences;

⁴Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, The University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

^*Corresponding author’s email: kawsar@awkum.edu.pk

Abstract

To evaluate the potential use of biochar in crop production, two years experiments were conducted in 2013 and 2014. The experiment consisted of three factors namely: (1) Biochar (0, 25 and 50 ton ha^-1), (2) FYM (5 and 10 ton ha^-1) and (3) nitrogen (75 and 150 kg ha^-1). A control treatment (no application of either treatment) was included in the experiment for comparison. All the treatments were replicated three time in RCB design at New Developmental Farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan. Experimental evidence indicated that BC, FYM and N significantly delayed all growth stages of maize such as days to taseling, silking and maturity. Biochar application significantly improved maize oil content by 12 and 29% over no BC plots (plots receiving other treatments) and control plots respectively. An increase of 27% and decrease of 11% was observed in maize protein and starch content in BC treated plots over control. FYM application of 10 ton ha^-1 improved maize protein content by 12% but reduced oil content by 15% over 5 ton FYM ha^-1. Likewise, N application resulted in higher protein content and starch content but reduced oil content significantly. Overall, application of BC showed convincing results as sole application of N and FYM, however, problems associated with BC production in Pakistan are needed to be addressed in future research.

Key words: Biochar, C:N ratio, Carbon sequestration and crop production.