De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops
Abstract Recently biochar has widely been reported as carrier of SRFs. However, the performance of SRFs synthesized from pristine biochar is still low and could not achieve the significant benefits compared to conventional N fertilizers. To overcome this limitation and research gap, BSRFs were synth...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90651-7 |
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| author | Muhammad Rashid Qaiser Hussain Khalid Saifullah Khan Sarosh Alvi Shokat Ali Abro Muhammad Akmal Shahzada Sohail Ijaz Muhammad Umer Abdul Ahad Qureshi Mohamed S. Elshikh Humaira Rizwana Muhammad Rizwan Rashid Iqbal |
| author_facet | Muhammad Rashid Qaiser Hussain Khalid Saifullah Khan Sarosh Alvi Shokat Ali Abro Muhammad Akmal Shahzada Sohail Ijaz Muhammad Umer Abdul Ahad Qureshi Mohamed S. Elshikh Humaira Rizwana Muhammad Rizwan Rashid Iqbal |
| author_sort | Muhammad Rashid |
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| description | Abstract Recently biochar has widely been reported as carrier of SRFs. However, the performance of SRFs synthesized from pristine biochar is still low and could not achieve the significant benefits compared to conventional N fertilizers. To overcome this limitation and research gap, BSRFs were synthesized using modified / de-ashed biochar as N-carrier. We hypothesized that BSRFs would NUE especially in alkaline calcareous soils for whom there is no specific SRF exist previously. In this study, the efficacy of BSRF formulated with 1:1 mass ratio of de-ashed biochar and urea was compared with CU and CSRF for improving NUE under wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) cropping system in two different textured soils. The results showed that compared to CU and CSRF, the addition of BSRF significantly increased the retention of soil mineral-N (NH4 +-N, NO3 −-N) which, consequently, enhanced the crops’ N-uptake up to 23.71% in wheat and 26.55% in maize. It was further observed that SOC contents were increased up to 50.79% in wheat and up to 47.61% in maize at harvest. The addition of BSRF enhanced the CEC up to 32.95% under wheat and up to 27.73% under maize, compared to CU. Eventually, BSRF significantly increased the grain yield and NUE of wheat by 12.04% and 40.44%, while the maize grain yield and NUE increased by 21.06% and 45.56%, respectively. This study concludes that BSRFs had a stronger yield-increasing effect than CU alone attributing to enhanced N retention and crop uptake in alkaline calcareous soils. It was also found that the de-ashed biochar is a strong candidate to formulate new SRFs with improved performance. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d3872a1b8fb04d6abdc1050dfbae8976 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| spelling | doaj-art-d3872a1b8fb04d6abdc1050dfbae89762025-08-20T03:04:29ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-03-0115111310.1038/s41598-025-90651-7De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize cropsMuhammad Rashid0Qaiser Hussain1Khalid Saifullah Khan2Sarosh Alvi3Shokat Ali Abro4Muhammad Akmal5Shahzada Sohail Ijaz6Muhammad Umer7Abdul Ahad Qureshi8Mohamed S. Elshikh9Humaira Rizwana10Muhammad Rizwan11Rashid Iqbal12Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversityInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversityInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversitySoil Fertility Survey and Soil Testing InstituteDepartment of Soil Sciences, Sindh Agricultural UniversityInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversityInstitute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversityDepartment of Biosciences, COMSATS UniversityDepartment of Horticulture, PMAS-Arid Agriculture UniversityDepartment of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud UniversityDepartment of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud UniversityInstitute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), University of BonnDepartment of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The Islamia University of BahawalpurAbstract Recently biochar has widely been reported as carrier of SRFs. However, the performance of SRFs synthesized from pristine biochar is still low and could not achieve the significant benefits compared to conventional N fertilizers. To overcome this limitation and research gap, BSRFs were synthesized using modified / de-ashed biochar as N-carrier. We hypothesized that BSRFs would NUE especially in alkaline calcareous soils for whom there is no specific SRF exist previously. In this study, the efficacy of BSRF formulated with 1:1 mass ratio of de-ashed biochar and urea was compared with CU and CSRF for improving NUE under wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) cropping system in two different textured soils. The results showed that compared to CU and CSRF, the addition of BSRF significantly increased the retention of soil mineral-N (NH4 +-N, NO3 −-N) which, consequently, enhanced the crops’ N-uptake up to 23.71% in wheat and 26.55% in maize. It was further observed that SOC contents were increased up to 50.79% in wheat and up to 47.61% in maize at harvest. The addition of BSRF enhanced the CEC up to 32.95% under wheat and up to 27.73% under maize, compared to CU. Eventually, BSRF significantly increased the grain yield and NUE of wheat by 12.04% and 40.44%, while the maize grain yield and NUE increased by 21.06% and 45.56%, respectively. This study concludes that BSRFs had a stronger yield-increasing effect than CU alone attributing to enhanced N retention and crop uptake in alkaline calcareous soils. It was also found that the de-ashed biochar is a strong candidate to formulate new SRFs with improved performance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90651-7Biochar-based fertilizersN-dynamicsNitrogen uptakeNitrogen use efficiencyAgronomic benefitsWheat |
| spellingShingle | Muhammad Rashid Qaiser Hussain Khalid Saifullah Khan Sarosh Alvi Shokat Ali Abro Muhammad Akmal Shahzada Sohail Ijaz Muhammad Umer Abdul Ahad Qureshi Mohamed S. Elshikh Humaira Rizwana Muhammad Rizwan Rashid Iqbal De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops Scientific Reports Biochar-based fertilizers N-dynamics Nitrogen uptake Nitrogen use efficiency Agronomic benefits Wheat |
| title | De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| title_full | De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| title_fullStr | De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| title_full_unstemmed | De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| title_short | De-ashed-biochar slow-release N fertilizer increased NUE in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| title_sort | de ashed biochar slow release n fertilizer increased nue in alkaline calcareous soils under wheat and maize crops |
| topic | Biochar-based fertilizers N-dynamics Nitrogen uptake Nitrogen use efficiency Agronomic benefits Wheat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90651-7 |
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