Plant Growth and Oil Yield Response of Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon citratuc L.) to Biochar Application

Abstract

አህፅሮት

 የሰዉ ሰራሽ ማዳበሪያ ዋጋ ከጊዜ ወደ ጊዜ ከመጨመሩም ባሻገር በአከባቢ ሁኔታ ላይ የሚያስከትለዉ ተጽዕኖም ሌላዉ ችግር ነዉ፡፡ እነዚህን ችግሮች ለማቃለል ሰዉ ሰራሽ ማዳባሪያን በኣካባቢዉ በቀላሉ ከሚገኙ  ካርቦናማ ቁስአካል ከሚዘጋጁ  ባዮቻርን ከመሳሰሉ አፈር አሻሻይ ጋር በማዋሐድ መጠቀም በዘላቂነት የግብርና ምርታማነትን ለማሻሻልና የምግብ ዋስትናን ለማረጋገጥ ይረዳል፡፡ ይህ የምርምር ሥራ በወንዶ ገነት ግብርና ምርምር ማዕከል እንደ አዉሮፓዉያን አቆጣጠር በ2013 እና በ2014 የመኸር ወቅት የተካሄደ ሲሆን ዓላማዉም የተለያየ መጠን ባዮቻር በመጨመር በአፈር ባሕርይ፣  በሎሚ ሳር ዕድገትና ምርታማነት ላይ ያላቸዉን ዉጤት ለመገምገም ነዉ፡፡ ጥናቱ ከቡና ሸለፈትና ከሸንኮራ አገዳ ተረፈ ምርት የተዘጋጁ የባዮቻር ዓይነቶችን ያካተተ ሲሆን ለእያንዳንዳቸዉ 0፣ 5፣ 10፣ 15 እና 20 ቶን በሄ/ር መጠን  በማዘጋጀትና ትክለኛዉን  የመስክ ዲዛይን  በመጠቀም ተከናዉኗል፡፡ የጥናቱ ዉጤት እንደሚያሳየዉ ሁለቱም የባዮቻር ዓይነቶች በተለያየ መጠን በመጨመራቸዉ ምክንያት የአፈር ኮምጣጣነት፣ የአፈር ካርቦናማ ቁስአካል፣የናይትሮጅን፣ የፎስፎረስ፣ የካታዮን ልዉዉጥ ብቃትና የአፈር ካታዮን ይዘት ተሻሽሏል፡፡ እንደዚሁም  ባዮቻርን በመጨመር የሎሚ ሳር ለምለምና ደረቅ ግዝፈ ሕይወት፣ የቅጠል ብዛት እና ዋና የዘይት ምርት በአመርቂ ሁኔታ ለመጨመር ተችሏል፡፡ ከፍተኛ የሎሚ ሳር ግዝፈ ሕይወት፣ የዕጽዋት ቅጠል ብዛትና የዉሀ ይዘት መጠን የተገኘዉ 15 ቶን በሄ/ር የቡና ሸለፈት ባዮቻር በመጨመር ነዉ፡፡ ሆኖም ከፍተኛ የዋና ዘይት ምርት የተገኘዉ 15 ቶን በሄ/ር የሸንኮራ አገዳ ተረ ፈምርት ባዮቻር በመጠቀም ነዉ፡፡  ከዚህ ጥናት ዉጤት በመነሳት 15 ቶን በሄ/ር የቡና ሸለፈት ባዮቻር መጨመር ለሎሚ ሳር ምርትና ምርታማነት የመጀመሪያ ተመራጭ ሲሆን የሸንኮራ አገዳ ተረፈ ምርት ባዮቻርን ደግሞ በአማራጭነት መጠቀም ይቻላል፡፡ በአጠቃላይ ባዮቻር መጨመር የአፈርን ለምነትና የሰብል ምርታማነት ለማሻሻል በጣም ጠቃሚ ነዉ፡፡

Abstract

The impact and cost of mineral fertilizers as well as their associated risks on the environmental safety is becoming unaffordable. To alleviate these problems, integrating mineral fertilizers with easily available and an environmental friendly soil amendment, such as biochar is of paramount importance towards meeting our goal of increasing agricultural production and ensuring food security. The experiment was conducted at Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center in 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons to investigate the effects of biochar application rate on selected soil properties, growth, and yield of lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratuc L.). The treatments consisting of coffee husk and bagasse derived biochars were applied at the rates of 5, 10, 15 and 20 tons ha^-1each, and a control treatment without amendment, with 9 treatments. The treatments were laid out in randomized complete blocked design with three replications. Application of both biochars at different rates improved soil pH, soil organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), cation exchange capacity (CEC) and exchangeable cations. Fresh biomass, dry matter yield, number of leaf per hill and essential oil yield of lemon grass were significantly increased due to the application of biochars. Over two years, the highest mean fresh biomass and total dray matter, number of leaf per hill and moisture content were obtained by the application of 15 t ha^-1 coffee husk biochar followed by the same rate of bagasse biochar. However, the highest mean essential oil yield was obtained from the application of 15 t ha^-1 bagasse biochar followed by the same rate of coffee husk biochar. To conclude, coffee husk biochar at the rate of 15 t ha^-1 could be recommended as the best treatment followed by bagasse biochar with the same rate to achieve optimum lemon grass yield in Wondo Genet and similar areas. Therefore, application of biochar is very imperative to improve soil fertility and crop yield.