The impact of biochar and perlite on the soil's physical characteristics and capacity to hold moisture

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in clay-textured soil during the agricultural season 2021-2022 at Al-Muthanna Governorate, Al-Suwayr District - Albugrad region, longitude "5. 16' 36°31, and a latitude '0'. 52' 27 ° 45, to study the effect of biochar and perlite on soil's physical properties and barley's growth and yield. The experiment used a Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with two factors and three replicates. The biochar factor treatments included four levels of biochar at the level (0% B0, 0.5% B1, 1% B2, 1.5% B3). In comparison, the treatments of the second factor perlite included four levels. They are the addition of agricultural perlite at the level (0% P0, 0.5% P1, 1% P2, 1.5% P3). Mixing biochar with agricultural perlite for all treatments with soil to a depth of 30 cm. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar Iba 99 was planted on 1/11/2021. Crop service operations were carried out from adding chemical fertilizers, jungle control and irrigation until the end of the experiment and harvest on 9/9/2022. The results showed the superiority of the B3 biochar treatment (1.5% biochar) in improving most of the physical and chemical properties of the soil, the average weighted diameter of the wet and dry sifters (0.92 and 4.74 mm), while the treatment P3 (1.5% perlite) recorded the highest total porosity of the soil (49.03%). Keywords: Biochar, perlite, physical properties, soil, moisture