Improvement in nitrogen use efficiency and associated parameters by integration of biochar and nitrogenous fertilizers for optimum wheat production

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) losses are predominant in alkaline soils due to the excessive use of N fertilizers, and the resulting low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Acacia prunings biochar (BC) applied at the rate of 0, 10, 20 and 30 t ha(-1), in combination with 0, 90, 120 and 150 kg N ha(-1) applied from urea, farm yard manure (FYN), poultry manure (PM) on Wheat yield components, NUE, and its associated parameters over 2 years of field experiment (2015-2017). Results indicated that the sole application of BC significantly improved thousand grains weight (TGW), grains spike-1, NUE and nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE) by 10.81, 9.02, 21.35 and 16.43% respectively, over the absolute control when averaged across both years. Similarly, the application of only N management significantly improved TGW, grains spike-1, nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) and nitrogen harvest index (NHI) by 32.14, 27.98, 4.47 and 16.66% respectively, over the absolute control when averaged across the years. Moreover, the combined application of BC + N fertilizers significantly affected all of the above parameters. Hence, it was summarized from our study that combined application of 20 t BC and 150 kg N ha(-1) lonely from poultry manure significantly improved yield components of wheat as well as NUE of fertilizers under semi-arid conditions.