Rice Husk Bio-Char Improves Brinjal Growth, Decreases Insect Infestation by Enhancing Silicon Uptake
- PDF / 530,254 Bytes
- 10 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 67 Downloads / 161 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Rice Husk Bio-Char Improves Brinjal Growth, Decreases Insect Infestation by Enhancing Silicon Uptake Hafiz Faiq Bakhat 1 & Najma Bibi 1 & Shah Fahad 2,4 & Hafiz Mohkum Hammad 1 & Natasha 1 & Sunaina Abbas 1 & Ghulam Mustafa Shah 1 & Ali Zakir 1 & Behzad Murtaza 1 & Muhammad Rizwan Ashraf 3 Received: 3 May 2020 / Accepted: 16 September 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract To meet the food demand of the increasing world population, use of insecticides is increasing day by day. However, intensive application of insecticides has increased the health risks to the human. Therefore, sustainable alternatives with a limited or no harm to the human and environment are always preferable. A study was conducted to determine the effect of rice husk biochar (RHB) on brinjal growth, mineral nutrients and insect infestations. The soil filled pots (7 kg pot−1) were amended with various levels of rice husk biochar (Control, RHB 3.5, RHB 7, RHB 14, RHB 21 and RHB 28 g pot−1) and its effects were determined on brinjal plant. Rice biochar (RHB 28 g pot−1) amended plant produced maximum biomass. Further, results also showed that higher doses of RHB significantly lower the insect infestation. Biochar treatment has also improved the plant mineral nutrients especially silicon (Si) concentration in the leaves. Hence, it is concluded that RHB tends to reduce insect infestation on brinjal plants by improving Si uptake and it may provide a strategy to sustain brinjal production. However, further studies must be carried out for comparative efficacy of the RHB with insecticide in deterring insect infestation for its widespread recommendations. Keywords Rice husk . Biochar . Brinjal . Insect infestation . Silicon
1 Introduction Over the past 120 years, the global population has jumped from 1.65 billion to 7.7 billion and it may touch 9.7 billion by 2050 [67]. The expanding world population is driving up global food demand up to 70% more food to satisfy global demand [22]. To meet the future food requirements, crop cultivation practices need to be more advanced with fewer limitations. However, excessive use of land for cultivating crops require heavy sprays of
* Hafiz Faiq Bakhat [email protected] 1
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari-Campus, Vehari 61100, Pakistan
2
College of Plant Sciences and Technology, Huazhong Agriculture University, Wuhan, China
3
University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Sub-campus, Burewala, Vehari, Pakistan
4
Department of Agronomy, The University of Haripur, Haripur 22620, Pakistan
insecticides and weedicides etc. Among these, the use of insecticides is increasing as these are beneficial in the sense that they increase the crop productivity by killing harmful insects of agricultural crops [17]. However, among the prime negative impacts of excessive insecticide use, development of insect resistance against these chemicals governs to develop more persistent and toxic compounds to control these herbivores [41]. The intensive application of inse
Data Loading...
