Author：Su-Chen Lin^1,*, Shen-Chyu Peng², Zi-Jun Lin³, and Yao-Tsung Chang⁴

Abstrct：

    Biochar has been used nationwide as soil amendment; even though there is still some negative effect to the crop growth reported. In this paper, the influence of biochar amendment to the growth of romaine lettuce was explored in terms of soil physical-chemical properties and composition of microbial flora as well as biodiversity. The experiment was conducted in March 2018. Experiment site was located in Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (KDARES). The test plant was romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. longifolia). The biochar included charcoal, carbonized rice husk and rice husk ash. Field trial plots were designed and managed by KDARES. Biochar was incorporated 20 tons per hectare. Soil samples were collected before planting and after harvest separately for the related analyses. The test results indicated that (i) charcoal amendment could increase crop yield 24%; carbonized rice husk and rice husk ash decrease crop yield 29% and 60% respectively, (ii) charcoal and rice husk ash could enhance soil pH, (iii) all of tested biochar could increase soil available potassium, (iv) charcoal amendment could significantly lower the quantity of available irons and coppers, (v) all of tested biochar could lower the DNA quantity in soil, (vi) charcoal amendment could enhance significantly microbial carbon utilization rate in subsoil, (vii) all of biochar amendment could lower total bacterial, free-living nitrogen fixing bacterial and phosphate-solubilizing bacterial counts, (viii) amendment of carbonized rice husk and rice husk ash could promote the quantity of ascomycetes.

Key words: Biochar, Lactuca sativa, Romaine lettuce, Soil physical-chemical Properties, Biodiversity.

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* Corresponding author, e-mail: linmay@tari.gov.tw
¹ Assistant Researcher, AgricμLtural Chemistry Division, Taiwan AgricμLture Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
² Research Assistant, AgricμLtural Chemistry Division, Taiwan AgricμLture Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Research Assistant, AgricμLtural Chemistry Division, Taiwan AgricμLture Research Institute, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Associate Researcher, Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Pingtung, Taiwan, ROC.

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