PRODUCTION OF BIOVHAR FOR SOIL ENRICHMENT, PARAMETRUC AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS ON THE YIELD OF SPINACH (Amaratus Calacatus)

Abstract

This research is aimed at enriching soil using biochar produced from saw dust (pine wood). Degradation of soil is a major challenge faced by farmers which must be curtailed. These challenges can be minimized when degraded soil is amended with biochar. Biochar enriches soil with nutrients and boost the yield of spinach. To achieve this aim, biochar was produced from pine wood at pyrolysis conditions of temperature: 300 oC, 350 oC, 400 oC, holding time of 30 mins, 60 mins and 90 mins to get the yield and nutrient content. The result of the pyrolysis shows the biochar produced at 3500C, holding time of 60 mins had the highest amount of Nitrogen and Carbon content. The pyrolysis condition was therefore regarded as the optimum condition for subsequent production of samples of biochar for further analysis and characterization. Proximate and ultimate analysis was conducted on the sample of the biochar produced at optimum pyrolysis conditions, it showed that biochar contained a moisture content (4.32%), ash content (26.12%), volatile matter (35.32%) and fixed carbon (34.34%). The ultimate analysis result revealed that biochar contains carbon content (72.45%), hydrogen (2.66%), Oxygen present was 13.02% and 3.60% Nitrogen which is 100% higher than that obtained from the raw saw dust. The sulphur content was found to be less than 0.1%. The Brunauer-Emmet Teller (BET) result show that the surface area of the biochar had increased from 1.384 m2/g obtained from the saw dust to 591.0 m2/g, pore volume (0.1747 cc) and pore size (6.077nm) for saw dust and the biochar respectively. The scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was conducted and the result shows that the biochar produced is porous in nature, while the X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) revealed the amorphous nature of the biochar. Field application of biochar produced was carried out to determine its effect on the growth of spinach. Prior to this application, soil analysis was conducted before planting and after harvesting, and the result revealed an increment of about 70% in nitrite and soil pH increased sharply. Parametric and sensitivity test conducted on the yield of spinach revealed an increase in the plant height (42.46 cm) in the treatment with biochar as compared to the control (41.10 cm). The stem girth increased in the treatment with biochar (4.69 cm) as compared with control (4.10cm). Total yield per bed increased in treatment with biochar (3.4 kg) compared with control (3.2 kg). It could be deduced that the treatment with biochar application effectively enriched the soil for better spinach yield. It is recommended that nutrient analysis should be done spinach grown using biochar and fertilizer as enrichment.