Biochar Case Study

1693 Words7 Pages
Experimental outcome/ Results 4.1 Plant Growth of MRIA1 Variety Application rates of biochar proved to have a significant effect on plant growth of MRIA1 variety. The untreated soil showed the smallest plant growth of all 5 treatments, only reaching an average height of 133.0 cm. The plant height was significantly increased where biochar treatment was added. All treatments using biochar achieved plant growth well above the untreated soil. Treatment B100, using 100 grams of biochar, had the strongest effect on plant growth of MRIA1 variety where the reading reach to 147.0 cm (Figure 3). Figure 3: Plant growth of MRIA1 variety by quantity of biochar (in cm). As expected, there was a clear difference between treatments according to ANOVA analysis (Table 2). With a conclusive F-statistic (5.91) and p-value (0.010), it was safe to say that…show more content…
This negative charge buffers soil acidity, causing a jump in pH. Biochar has the same acidity buffering effect, which explains why the pH level of the soil rises when biochar was added. As biochar into the soil, there was increase in pH level and therefore a decrease in soil acidity. The results from this experiment match up appropriately with the underlying theory of biochar’s negative charge buffering soil acidity. 5.4 Potassium (K) The increase in potassium as compost is added to the control soil is a clear shift in nutrient levels due to soil additions. Potassium found in compost is completely available to soil and plants, which will show a clear increase in exchangeable potassium when added to soil (19). Once biochar is applied to the soil, exchangeable potassium levels decrease, but remain above the control soil. Biochar is not shown to have a significant effect on exchangeable potassium, which would explain the decrease in exchangeable potassium as biochar begins to replace compost in the soil 5.5 Calcium

More about Biochar Case Study

Open Document