The annual burning of 500–900 million tons of crop residues releases nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO₂ equivalents and severely degrades soil quality, causing 25–30% losses in soil organic carbon and 40–60% reductions in nitrogen. This unsustainable practice increases fertilizer requirements by 15–20% to sustain crop yields. Converting crop residues into biochar offers a sustainable alternative that mitigates air pollution, improves soil fertility, enhances carbon sequestration, and increases agricultural productivity. This study evaluated the effect of biochar application on soil properties, wheat growth, and yield performance. A two-year field experiment was conducted on wheat (PBW 824) at the Agriculture Research Farm of Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. Treatments included a control, recommended fertilizer doses, nitrogen and phosphorus alone, and nitrogen and phosphorus combined with rice husk or rice straw biochar applied at 5, 10, and 15 t/ha. Biochar application significantly improved crop performance, with the most pronounced effects observed under RSB & RHB doses at 5 t/ha. Compared to non-biochar treatments, this rate increased plant height (12.8%), tillers (49.8%), leaf area index (43.3%), crop growth rate (25.4%), spike length (34.2%), grains per spike (40.6%), test weight (19.6%), biological yield (17.2%), grain yield (32.8%), and harvest index (13.4%). Application of biochar at 5 t/ha is an effective and sustainable strategy for enhancing soil physical properties, nutrient availability, plant growth, and wheat productivity, while improving soil moisture retention and reducing soil hardness.
Sharma et al. (Fri,) studied this question.