Effect of Activated Biochar on the Fertility an Acid Soil in Southern Nigeria

Soil acidity is a potentially serious land degradation issue. When soil becomes too acidic it can decrease the availability of essential nutrients. Investigation on the effect of activated biochar on soil properties of coastal plain sands of Port Harcourt was conducted at the high tunnel hoop house located at the Teaching and Research farm, Rivers State University Port Harcourt. Separate biochars were produced using following materials: Wood Shavings (WS), Corn Cob (CC), Wood (WD), Palm Kernel Shell (PK), and Animal Bone (AB), And a Control (CO). The 6 treatments made up of the various biochars were replicated three times and fitted into a Randomized Complete Block Design. Soil samples were taken before and after treatment application and for determination of physical and chemical properties. Result shows that the pH values significantly increased from 6.63 – 7.73, when compared to the original soil with a pH of 4.97(P = 0.05). The organic matter content was significantly higher (P>0.05) across all the biochar amended soils. Palm kernel biochar (PK) had 31.4% increase in organic matter when compared to the initial organic matter of 1.19%. There was also substantial increase in the soil total nitrogen (100%) for palm kernel biochar. Available phosphorus was also increased by almost 100% for soil treated with the respective biochars; ranging from 0.33 – 0.43 cmolkg-1 when compared to the original value of 0.18 cmolkg-1. Remarkably, the values for most of the exchangeable bases increased significantly (P= 0.05) after treatment application, ranging from 5.68-18.10, 6.01 – 24.1 and 3.93-6.13cmolkg-1 for K+, Na+ and Mg2+ respectively, as compare to the initial values of 4.36, 2.2 and 1.0cmolkg-1.