article · Plants
Irrigating sodic-saline soils with low-quality or saline water hinders agricultural productivity, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Two-year field trials in 2018 and 2019 assessed an integrated soil amendment combining biochar with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, specifically Azotobacter chroococcum and Pseudomonas koreensis, to improve maize cultivation under saline water irrigation. The combined treatment improved soil physicochemical characteristics and nutrient contents of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, while decreasing exchangeable sodium percentage and sodium content. Soil enzyme activities, including urease and dehydrogenase, increased substantially under the combined amendment compared to untreated controls. Furthermore, the combination outperformed individual applications of biochar or bacteria in mitigating saline water stress. It yielded the highest maize leaf area index, photosynthetic pigments, total soluble sugars, relative water content, and potassium-to-sodium ratios, demonstrating improved plant resilience and soil health.
In water-scarce dry regions, farmers frequently face the challenge of using saline water on already degraded, salt-affected soils. Demonstrating that combining biochar with beneficial bacteria protects cereal crops like maize offers a practical strategy to sustain food production and restore soil health where freshwater resources are severely constrained.
This research presents an applied and tested soil management strategy combining biochar and specific bacterial inoculants. Agricultural input suppliers, biofertiliser manufacturers, and farmers in arid or saline areas could utilise these dual amendments to sustain maize and cereal cultivation when using low-quality irrigation water. Having been evaluated across two consecutive field seasons, the method is at an applied, field-tested stage, though wider adoption depends on the scalable supply of the bacterial strains and biochar.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
The utilization of low-quality water or slightly saline water in sodic-saline soil is a major global conundrum that severely impacts agricultural productivity and sustainability, particularly in arid and semiarid regions with limited freshwater resources. Herein, we proposed an integrated amendment strategy for sodic-saline soil using biochar and/or plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR; <i>Azotobacter chroococcum</i> SARS 10 and <i>Pseudomonas koreensis</i> MG209738) to alleviate the adverse impacts of saline water on the growth, physiology, and productivity of maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.), as well as the soil properties and nutrient uptake during two successive seasons (2018 and 2019). Our field experiments revealed that the combined application of PGPR and biochar (PGPR + biochar) significantly improved the soil ecosystem and physicochemical properties and K<sup>+</sup>, Ca<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup>, and Mg<sub>2</sub><sup>+</sup> contents but reduced the soil exchangeable sodium percentage and Na<sup>+</sup> content. Likewise, it significantly increased the activity of soil urease (158.14 ± 2.37 and 165.51 ± 3.05 mg NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> g<sup>-1</sup> dry soil d<sup>-1</sup>) and dehydrogenase (117.89 ± 1.86 and 121.44 ± 1.00 mg TPF g<sup>-1</sup> dry soil d<sup>-1</sup>) in 2018 and 2019, respectively, upon irrigation with saline water compared with non-treated control. PGPR + biochar supplementation mitigated the hazardous impacts of saline water on maize plants grown in sodic-saline soil better than biochar or PGPR individually (PGPR + biochar > biochar > PGPR). The highest values of leaf area index, total chlorophyll, carotenoids, total soluble sugar (TSS), relative water content, K<sup>+</sup> and K<sup>+</sup>/Na<sup>+</sup> of maize plants corresponded to PGPR + biochar treatment. These findings could be guidelines for cultivating not only maize but other cereal crops particularly in salt-affected soil and sodic-saline soil.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3390/plants10091960
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
