Conocarpus biochar as a soil amendment for reducing heavy metal availability and uptake by maize plants
A, Al-Wabel M.I., Usman A.R.A., El-Naggar A.H., Aly A.A., Ibrahim H.M., Elmaghraby S. & Al-Omran . 2015
The objective of this study was to assess the use of Concarpus biochar as a soil amendment for reducing heavy metal accessibility and uptake by maize plants (Zea mays L.). The impacts of biochar rates (0.0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0% w/w) and two soil moisture levels (75% and 100% of field capacity, FC) on immobilization and availability of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cd, Cu and Pb to maize plants as well as its application effects on soil pH, EC, bulk density, and moisture content were evaluated using heavy metal-contaminated soil collected from mining area. The biochar addition significantly decreased the bulk density and increased moisture content of soil. Applying biochar significantly reduced NH4OAc- or AB-DTPA-extractable heavy metal concentrations of soils, indicating metal immobilization. Conocarpus biochar increased shoot dry biomass of maize plants by 54.5–102% at 75% FC and 133–266% at 100% FC. Moreover, applying biochar significantly reduced shoot heavy metal concentrations in maize plants (except for Fe at 75% FC) in response to increasing application rates, with a highest decrease of 51.3% and 60.5% for Mn, 28% and 21.2% for Zn, 60% and 29.5% for Cu, 53.2% and 47.2% for Cd at soil moisture levels of 75% FC and 100% FC, respectively. The results suggest that biochar may be effectively used as a soil amendment for heavy metal immobilization and in reducing its phytotoxicity.
The objective of this study was to assess the use of Concarpus biochar as a soil amendment for reducing heavy metal accessibility and uptake by maize plants (Zea mays L.).
Conocarpus wastes were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (200–800 °C) to investigate their impact on characteristics and chemical composition of biochars.
The aim of this research is to evaluate arsenic distribution and associated hydrogeochemical parameters in 27 randomly selected boreholes representing aquifers in the Al-Kharj geothermal fields of…