Eco-Friendly Utilization of Nutrient Enriched Biochar from Sugar Industry Wastes and Its Effect on Nitrogen Use Efficiency

An experiment was conducted to study the nitrogen use efficiency of nutrient enriched biochar (NEB) from sugar industry wastes with seven treatments comprising T1 (absolute control), T2 (50% RD of PK through NEB), T3 (75% RD of PK through NEB), T4 (100% RD of PK through NEB), T5 (125% RD of PK through NEB), T6 (50% through NEB + 50% through inorganic fertilizer) and T7 (100% RD of PK through inorganic fertilizer) in RBD using the rice variety TRY 3. In all treatments, nitrogen was supplied based on LCC reading. The result revealed that application of N through NEB could release the nitrogen slowly and steadily, thereby increasing the nitrogen use efficiency and crop yield. Since the yield of T3 treatment (6103 kgha-1) was on par with T4 (6165 kgha-1) and T5 (6269 kgha-1) treatments, which indicated that the plants received the essential nutrients in required quantities at 75 % RD of PK through NEB itself. On optimization of graded levels of NEB, the application of 75% RD of Pk through NEB was found to be the best treatment with respect to nitrogen use efficiency and grain yield in response to the quantity of nitrogen applied.