Abstract
Biochar added to soil can improve crop growth and productivity. However, the mechanisms of crop growth improvement by biochar application are not well understood, particularly in the presence of soil-borne pathogens caused by continuous monocropping. Thus, a two-year field experiment was carried out to study the chemical and microbiological response of Lixisols (pH 5.8) to the amendment of biochar and its effect on watermelon productivity and Fusarium wilt disease incidence. Biochar was added alone or together with compost before watermelon transplanting. Mixed application of biochar with compost significantly increased watermelon yield as compared to adding compost or biochar alone. However, biochar had no effects on Fusarium wilt disease incidence in both years. Combined application of biochar with compost significantly increased contents of soil NH4+-N, available phosphorus (P) and available potassium (K). Soil Biolog data indicated that the Shannon-Weaver diversity index and evenness index were increased significantly in the combined application of biochar with the compost treatment. There was a significant positive correlation between watermelon yield and soil NH4+-N, available P, available K, microbial diversity or microbial evenness in the continuous watermelon monocropping system.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Mixed application of biochar with compost significantly increased watermelon yield compared with compost or biochar alone.
- Taxon
- watermelon
Citrullus lanatust0 - Treatment
- Mixed application of biochar with composte1
- Outcome
- watermelon yielde1
- Direction
- increasede1
- Comparator
- adding compost or biochar alonee1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Mixed application of biochar with compost significantly increased watermelon yield as compared to adding compost or biochar alone”
t0“continuous watermelon cropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Biochar alone had no effect on Fusarium wilt disease incidence in watermelon in either year.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- biochare2
- Outcome
- Fusarium wilt disease incidencee2
- Direction
- no effectse2
- Qualifier
- in both yearse2
FusariumNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e2“However, biochar had no effects on Fusarium wilt disease incidence in both years”
t0“continuous watermelon cropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined application of biochar with compost significantly increased soil NH4+-N, available phosphorus and available potassium.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- Combined application of biochar with composte3
- Outcome
- contents of soil NH4+-N, available phosphorus (P) and available potassium (K)e3
- Direction
- increasede3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e3“Combined application of biochar with compost significantly increased contents of soil NH4+-N, available phosphorus (P) and available potassium (K)”
t0“continuous watermelon cropping”
Claim · model-written summary
The combined application of biochar with compost significantly increased the Shannon-Weaver diversity index and evenness index of soil microbes.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Treatment
- combined application of biochar with the compost treatmente4
- Outcome
- Shannon-Weaver diversity index and evenness indexe4
- Direction
- increasede4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“the Shannon-Weaver diversity index and evenness index were increased significantly in the combined application of biochar with the compost treatment”
t0“continuous watermelon cropping”
Claim · model-written summary
Watermelon yield was significantly positively correlated with soil NH4+-N, available P, available K, microbial diversity or microbial evenness in the continuous monocropping system.
- Taxon
- watermelonCitrullus lanatust0
- Outcome
- watermelon yielde5
- Direction
- positive correlatione5
- Setting
- continuous watermelon monocropping systeme5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e5“There was a significant positive correlation between watermelon yield and soil NH4+-N, available P, available K, microbial diversity or microbial evenness in the continuous watermelon monocropping system”
t0“continuous watermelon cropping”
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