Almond shell biochar: characterization and application in soilless cultivation of Eruca sativa

ROMINA ZABALETA; ELIANA SÁNCHEZ; MARÍA PAULA FABANI; GERMÁN MAZZA; ROSA A. RODRÍGUEZ

BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY

Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2023 p. 1 - 18

2190-6815

Soillesscultivation currently competes with open-field production. Although thesubstrate used is generally perlite, there is interest in looking for newmaterials that can help growers produce healthy plants with sustainablepractices. Among these new materials, biochar could be an alternative, as ithas numerous benefits for substrate health, water retention, carbonsequestration, and nutrient supply. Thus, the objective of this work was toevaluate the effects of almond shell biochar (ASB) addition to perlite on thephysicochemical properties of this substrate and its influence on the agronomiccharacteristics of arugula (Eruca sativa)cultivation. Two variables were included: (a) percentage of ASB added (0, 5,10, and 15 % w/w ASB/perlite) and (b) compost tea for irrigation (0 and 5 g/Lof water). In addition, correlations were proposed to describe the dependenceof the agronomic variables on the percentage of ASB added and the type ofirrigation solution used. The results demonstrated that adding 10 % of ASB andirrigating with water improved the characteristics of arugula plants comparedwith controls, while compost tea did not influence the agronomic parametersevaluated. The models proposed showed that the agronomic variables depend onthe percentage of biochar added and compost tea (R2 ≥ 0.90). Theinteraction between both variables was negative. ASB addition improved soillessarugula cultivation, compared to the use of perlite alone. Moreover, the use ofalmond shell as a raw material in the pyrolysis process to obtain biocharreduces the environmental impact, tending to the circular economy concept.