Soil Physical Properties as Affected by Nitrogen and Biochar Amendments

Biochar in combination with selected inorganic and organic sources of nitrogen is receiving attention due to its ability to promote crop yield and stabilize the soil. A greenhouse experiment was carried out for two years resulting in two seasons of planting to investigate the effects of biochar in combination with alfalfa, chicken manure and sterile chicken manure on wheat yield as well as soil physical properties such as: water percolation rate, bulk density, aggregate distribution and crust penetration resistance. The results showed that ammonium nitrate treatment had the highest yield when combined with biochar with an average of 2.73gplant-1 for the second and third season. Chicken manure had the lowest bulk density 0.76 g cm-3 and 1.17 g cm-3 for season 2 and 3 respectively). The research also indicated that ammonium nitrate had the highest percolation rates of 341 ml min-1 and 21 ml min-1 when combined with biochar for seasons 2 and 3, respectively