A new study has found that innovative liquid biochar-based fertilizers can significantly increase crop yields, improve nutrient efficiency, and deliver strong economic returns, offering a promising pathway toward more sustainable agriculture.
Researchers developed a series of liquid biochar mineral complex fertilizers and tested them in a pasture cropping system. These formulations combine biochar with mineral nutrients in a liquefied form, allowing easier application and faster nutrient availability for plants. The results show that certain formulations, particularly those enriched with nitrogen, dramatically outperform conventional fertilization approaches.
“Developing nutrient-efficient fertilizers is critical for sustaining crop production under increasing environmental pressures,” said the study’s corresponding author. “Our findings demonstrate that liquid biochar-based fertilizers can enhance both productivity and resource efficiency in real-world farming systems.”
Fertilizer inefficiency remains a major challenge in agriculture. It is estimated that up to half of applied nitrogen and the vast majority of phosphorus are not absorbed by crops, instead being lost to the environment through runoff and leaching. These losses not only reduce farm profitability but also contribute to pollution and ecosystem degradation.
The study addressed this issue by designing four different liquid biochar mineral complexes. These included non-enriched formulations, a phosphorus-enriched version, and a nitrogen-enriched formulation. Each was applied in field conditions, both with and without additional conventional fertilizers, to evaluate their effects on plant growth, nutrient uptake, soil properties, and economic performance.
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