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Crop and Pasture Science Crop and Pasture Science Society
Plant sciences, sustainable farming systems and food quality
Table of Contents

Volume 74 Numbers 1 & 2 2023

Special Issue

Biochar and Fertiliser Interactions in Crop and Pasture Production

Guest Editor:
Zakaria Solaiman

This foreword provides a summary of papers included in this special issue on biochar and fertiliser interactions for crop and pastures productivity. This special issue includes published papers on how biochar and fertiliser affect soil health and crop yields and overcome soil constraints such as acidity, salinity, low fertility and remediation of metal and pesticides contaminated soils.

CP21486Biochar actions for the mitigation of plant abiotic stress

Shahin Imran 0000-0002-7423-9984, Prosenjit Sarker, Md. Najmol Hoque, Newton Chandra Paul, Md. Asif Mahamud, Jotirmoy Chakrobortty, Md. Tahjib-Ul-Arif, Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef, Mirza Hasanuzzaman 0000-0002-0461-8743 and Mohammad Saidur Rhaman 0000-0003-0090-6665
pp. 6-20

Biochar application improves soil properties which helps in proper plant growth. Biochar improves the plants’ tolerance to adverse effects of abiotic stress. Biochar modifies plant physiology towards the survival under stressful condition.


The use of biochar in combination with soil phosphate fertilisers is an important strategy in increasing crop yields and sustainability. Adding biochar improves soil fertility and protects it from degradation. The addition of biochar with phosphate fertilisers increased the wheat yield and improved its fertility in semiarid regions.

CP21146Comparative effects of biochar and NPK on wheat crops under different management systems

Ibad Ullah, Dost Muhammad, Maria Mussarat, Shadman Khan, Muhammad Adnan 0000-0001-9081-2229, Shah Fahad 0000-0002-7525-0296, Muhammad Ismail, Ishaq Ahmad Mian 0000-0003-4702-3325, Aizaz Ali, Muhammad Hamzah Saleem 0000-0002-3658-770X, Muhammad Saeed, Farhana Gul, Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza 0000-0002-4197-7665, Hafiz Mohkum Hammad, Wajid Nasim, Shah Saud, Jabar Zaman Khan Khattak, Masood Ahmad, Naushad Ali, Rasheed Akbar, Shah Masaud Khan and Jan Banout
pp. 31-40

Biochar significantly decreases nutrient and pollutant leaching in soils. Biochar application could decrease P loss from applied P fertilisers due to leaching, reducing the pollution risk from P in water and soils. The present study assessed the effect of biochar and nitrogen–phosphorus–potassium (NPK) fertilisers on wheat yield, other agronomic parameters and selected soil properties under raised- and flat-bed cultivation. The study would be useful for further enhancing wheat yield in irrigated and rainfed areas on a sustainable basis.


This study investigated the effect of a traditionally prepared organic biochar from banana, i.e. kolakhar was used individually and in combination with commercial biochar for ameliorating soil, growing few traditional rice cultivars, with regard to tolerability of Al toxicity and P deficiency. The rice seedlings treated with kolakhar showed significant response in terms of biomass, photosynthetic efficiency and antioxidant protection mechanisms which was further authenticated by histochemical and ICP-OES analysis, paving the way to overcome the acidic soil stress.

CP21449Effectiveness of biochar- and boron-coated diammonium phosphate for improving boron availability to sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

Tayyaba Samreen 0000-0001-6356-4098, Nafeesa Kanwal, Faisal Nadeem, Muhammad Farooq 0000-0003-4368-9357, Saima Noreen, Muhammad Zulqernain Nazir, Muhammad Asaad Bashir, Muhammad Naveed and Zahir Ahmad Zahir
pp. 55-65

Boron is an essential micronutrient that stimulates plant metabolic and developmental processes. This study aimed to enhance boron availability through the development of biochar- and boron-coated diammonium phosphate (BC-BDAP) for use in biochar-amended alkaline calcareous soils. Data showed improved nutrient (boron and phosphorus) uptake with application of BC-BDAP in 2% and particularly 4% biochar-amended soil, which further improved the growth, yield and oil content of sunflower relative to DAP alone or boron + DAP without biochar amendment.


A healthy soil is required for healthy crops, and plants growing on salt-affected soils have inadequate supply of nutrients. Application of biochar may help to mitigate salinity stress. Our pot study showed that biochar application at 10 t ha−1 significantly promoted nutrient availability, enzyme activities and crop growth of marigold in soils at various salinity levels, thus avoiding crop failure.

CP21653Biochar enriched compost elevates mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) yield under different salt stresses

Md. Mehedi Hasan Mithu, Shamim Mia 0000-0002-5013-8759, Ayesa Akter Suhi, Saraban Tahura, Purnendu Biswas, Md. Abdul Kader, Susilawati Kassim and Tomoyuki Makino
pp. 79-89

The application of co-composted biochar is an emerging mean of increasing agricultural productivity while sustaining soil health. However, it is unknown whether co-composted biochar applied in the previous season or its fresh application at increasing rates could promote the performance of a legume when grown under different levels of salinity. Co-composted biochar, applied in or previous season, increased mungbean yield through alleviating salt stress suggesting that it could be one of the sustainable means for legume production in saline-prone areas.


Biochar and organic fertiliser when applied in relatively large quantities can be as effective as liming for cropping acid sulfate soils. The three amendments added separately or in any combination increased growth and yield of baby corn but impaired cob protein content.

CP21790Biochar increases soil enzyme activities in two contrasting pastoral soils under different grazing management

Stanislav Garbuz, Alec Mackay, Marta Camps-Arbestain, Brian DeVantier and Maria Minor 0000-0003-2095-5456
pp. 101-111

Willow wood biochar applied at a rate of 10.9 Mg ha−1 increased the activity of five out of seven soil enzymes. The increase in enzymes involved in nutrient and carbon cycling was strongly and positively correlated with soil biological activity. The 40–45% increase in cellulase activity was linked to enhanced root biomass following biochar addition.

CP20453Relative efficiency of biochar particles of different sizes for immobilising heavy metals and improving soil properties

Wiqar Ahmad, Arbaz Khan, Muhammad Zeeshan, Ijaz Ahmad, Muhammad Adnan 0000-0001-9081-2229 and Shah Fahad 0000-0002-7525-0296
pp. 112-120

Use of inorganic material is the main cause of soil pollution globally, hindering efforts toward sustainable and safe agriculture. In this regard, heavy metals pollute the soil and endanger food quality, but biochars with very high surface area are effective in absorbing toxic heavy metals. In this study, various sizes of biochar were tested for phyto-stabilisation of heavy metals, and the finest biochar (<3 mm) proved most effective.

The application of soil amendments to immobilise pesticide residues is a promising technology for meeting human health requirements, environmental protection and cost-effective remediation. The addition of biochar with compost increased the canola growth and decreased the concentrations of pesticide residues. Spectroscopy analysis indicated that the π–π interaction, pore filling, hydrophobic effect, H-bonding, and degradation are the dominant mechanisms of the studied pesticide residues with rice straw of biochar and compost amendments in the alkaline soils.

CP21043Biochar, slag and ferrous manganese ore affect lead, cadmium and antioxidant enzymes in water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) grown in multi-metal contaminated soil

Sajid Mehmood 0000-0002-6936-4975, Waqas Ahmed, Muhammad Rizwan, Allah Ditta, Sana Irshad, Di-Yun Chen, Saqib Bashir 0000-0001-8573-6591, Mohsin Mahmood, Weidong Li and Muhammad Imtiaz
pp. 132-146

Soil contamination with heavy metals adversely affects plant growth and soil fertility. We applied biochar, slag and ferrous manganese ore as amendments to contaminated soil into which water spinach was sown, to assess their effects on soil physicochemical and biological properties, bioavailability of lead and cadmium, and plant growth. Application of the amendments, especially biochar, significantly enhanced soil properties and plant growth and reduced bioavailability of lead and cadmium.

CP21297Characterisation of biochar produced from two types of chestnut shells for use in remediation of cadmium- and lead-contaminated soil

Pingfan Zhou 0000-0002-7700-3344, Muhammad Adeel, Manlin Guo, Ling Ge, Noman Shakoor, Mingshu Li, Yuanbo Li, Guiyun Wang and Yukui Rui 0000-0003-2256-8804
pp. 147-156

China is a major producer of chestnut, with 1.84 million tons of chestnuts produced worldwide, resulting in a massive amount of waste of chestnut shells. In this study, biochar from two types of chestnut shell was produced, characterised and used for remediation of cadmium- and lead-contaminated soil. This research demonstrated that chestnut biochar has potential to repair Cd-contaminated soil and also demonstrated that combining phytoremediation of Pb-contaminated soils with biochar is promising.

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