Evaluating biomas-derived biochar on seed germination and early seedling growth of maize and black gram

Seed treatment with biomass-derived biochar has potential to overcome the moisture, nutrients, and hormonal constraint on native germination and early growth. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different levels of biochars obtained from four divergent biomass on seed germination and seedling growth of maize and black gram. All the biochars were prepared at 500 degrees C and characterized for their physicochemical properties. We determined the effect of biochar type and application rate. The biochar under study enhanced the seed germination and seedling growth significantly at a reasonable application rate than higher rate which might be due to secretion of chemical substances by the respective biochar. But the pine needle biochar (PNB) did not perform satisfactorily, and it may be due to lignin-rich feedstock. Both the maize stalk biochar (MSB) andLantana camarabiochar (LCB) showed slightly inhibitory effect at higher application rate due to presence of some heavy metals. However, the black gram biochar (BGB) performed well and constantly increased seed germination as well as seedling growth, and thus has a greater potential to increase its application rate under field condition. The shoot/root ration decreased with increase in biochar application rate. Our results offer new facts for the requirement of creating environmental risk management of biochar before its field soil application.