Bagasse Pith-Vinasse Biochar Effects on Carbon Emission and Nutrient Release in Calcareous Sandy Soil

Local waste recycling has many benefits to environmental, economic, social, and health aspects. Arid regions, especially calcareous sandy soil, where high rates of organic matter decomposition led carbon emission to increase, are poor in their content of organic matter and some nutrients as well as high phosphorus fixation in this soil. The objectives of this study were investigating effects of bagasse pith-vinasse biochar and incubation periods on: carbon (C) sequestration, carbon mineralization, and nutrients availability of calcareous sandy soil. The incubation experiment included four treatments: (1) unamended soil (control), (2) soil amended with 3% (w/w) bagasse pith-vinasse (BPV), (3) soil amended with 3% (w/w) biochar of bagasse pith-vinasse (BPVB), and (4) soil amended with 3% (w/w) BPV + BPVB (1:1) and incubated at 3, 7, 21 and 46 days. The results of this study revealed a decline in carbon emission with adding BPVB compared to BPV and BPV + BPVB this in turn leads to enhancing carbon sequestration. Available phosphorus improved significantly with adding bagasse pith-vinasse biochar compared with unamended soil. Phosphorus availability increases with increasing incubating durations for bagasse pith-vinasse biochar. At the end of the incubation, the phosphorus availability increased from 20.08 mg kg(-1) soil for control to 20.36, 35.25, and 20.63 mg kg(-1) soil for BPV, BPVB and BPV + BPVB, respectively. Moreover, potassium availability showed a significant improvement with BPVB application compared with unamended soil. We recommend adding biochar to low fertility soil because it plays an important role in the environmental management via improving soil fertility, local waste management, and climate change mitigation.