The Role of Biochar in Phosphorus Concentration in Potato Plants and Phosphorus Availability

Abstract

Abstract The first of the two trials was a controlled laboratory trial of making plant biochar using rice straw, maize cobs, and cane refuse (B1, B2, and B3). Our goal was to enhance their phosphorus content by applying three different concentrations of the superphosphate fertiliser TSP (21% P) at 50%, 75%, and 100% of the phosphorus indicated for potato varieties F1, F2, and F3, respectively. Agricultural Research Station No. (1), University of Anbar - College of Agriculture, Anbar province - Al-Ramadi district - Al-Bu Atha region, longitude E43.32.65 and latitude N33.45.37, was the site of the second experiment, which tested the study factors in a field experiment that took place in the autumn of 2022. To test the effects of three kinds of phosphorus-enriched plant biochar, each with varying concentrations of the fertiliser, on a sandy clay loam soil that was irrigated drip-wise, we grew the Burren potato variety. In a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates, they were utilised as slow-release fertilisers to assess phosphorus availability and the residual influence of phosphorus in the soil. Compared to the control group that did not receive biochar, those plants treated with biochar that were loaded with phosphorus performed far better. For every characteristic that was measured—leaf phosphorus concentration, leaf phosphorus absorption, tuber phosphorus concentration, and residual soil phosphorus impact—the treatment with cane waste residue biochar (B3) yielded the best results. When mineral phosphorus was applied at a rate of 50% of the prescribed phosphorus fertiliser, the findings showed a considerable improvement in phosphorus concentration in the tubers, phosphorus absorption in the leaves, and phosphorus concentration in the leaves overall. However, the treatment that included adding mineral phosphorus at the prescribed rate of 100% yielded the best results in terms of the long-term effects of phosphorus on the soil.