Abstract
This study investigated the influence of biochar, produced from municipal organic waste, amended with either vermiculite or gypsum, and varying rates of NPK fertilizer on the agronomic response and yield performance of maize (Zea mays L.). A field experiment using a split-plot design was conducted across two growing seasons (2023 and 2024), with NPK fertilizer rates (150, 300, and 600 kg/ha) as the main plots and eight different biochar formulations as the subplots. The key agronomic parameters measured were fresh biomass, cob dry weight, shelling percentage, and harvest index. The findings revealed that vermiculite biochar and gypsum biochar significantly enhanced maize performance across both seasons. In 2024, gypsum biochar recorded the highest fresh biomass at 70.95 t/ha, followed by vermiculite biochar at 70.17 t/ha, compared to the control at 59.65 t/ha. This biochar yielded the highest cob dry weight: 14.55 t/ha in 2023 and 14.91 t/ha in 2024 approximately 34% and 30% increases over the control, respectively. NPK application at 300 kg/ha produced nearly the same cob weight (13.29 t/ha) as 600 kg/ha (14.14 t/ha), suggesting economic efficiency with lower input. The shelling percentage was highest under industrial nano biochar at 70.33%, though total biomass remained among the lowest, at 52.69 t/ha in 2024. Harvest index varied marginally, with gypsum nanobiochar reaching 0.41 in 2024, the highest recorded. The results showed that biochar amended with vermiculite and gypsum significantly improved the biomass and grain yield compared to the control and industrial biochar. The interaction between biochar and NPK revealed synergistic effects on growth and yield but minimal impact on harvest index and shelling percentage. These findings support the use of municipal organic waste -based biochar as a sustainable soil amendment to improve maize productivity and reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers in arid regions.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 15
Claim · model-written summary
Vermiculite biochar significantly enhanced maize performance across both seasons.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“vermiculite biochar and gypsum biochar significantly enhanced maize performance across both seasons”
Claim · model-written summary
Gypsum biochar significantly enhanced maize performance across both seasons.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“vermiculite biochar and gypsum biochar significantly enhanced maize performance across both seasons”
Claim · model-written summary
Gypsum biochar produced 70.95 t/ha fresh biomass in 2024, the highest reported, versus 59.65 t/ha in the control.
- Treatment
- gypsum biochare0
- Outcome
- fresh biomasse0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 70.95 t/hae0
- Qualifier
- 59.65 t/hae0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“gypsum biochar recorded the highest fresh biomass at 70.95 t/ha, followed by vermiculite biochar at 70.17 t/ha, compared to the control at 59.65 t/ha”
Claim · model-written summary
Vermiculite biochar produced 70.17 t/ha fresh biomass in 2024 versus 59.65 t/ha in the control.
- Treatment
- vermiculite biochare0
- Outcome
- fresh biomasse0
- Direction
- higherinferrede0
- Value
- 70.17 t/hae0
- Qualifier
- 59.65 t/hae0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“gypsum biochar recorded the highest fresh biomass at 70.95 t/ha, followed by vermiculite biochar at 70.17 t/ha, compared to the control at 59.65 t/ha”
Claim · model-written summary
Gypsum biochar gave the highest cob dry weight, 14.55 t/ha in 2023, about 34% above control.
- Treatment
- biochare0
- Outcome
- cob dry weighte0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 14.55 t/hae0
- Qualifier
- 34%e0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“This biochar yielded the highest cob dry weight: 14.55 t/ha in 2023 and 14.91 t/ha in 2024 approximately 34% and 30% increases over the control, respectively”
Claim · model-written summary
Gypsum biochar gave the highest cob dry weight, 14.91 t/ha in 2024, about 30% above control.
- Treatment
- biochare0
- Outcome
- cob dry weighte0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 14.91 t/hae0
- Qualifier
- 30%e0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“This biochar yielded the highest cob dry weight: 14.55 t/ha in 2023 and 14.91 t/ha in 2024 approximately 34% and 30% increases over the control, respectively”
Claim · model-written summary
NPK at 300 kg/ha produced 13.29 t/ha cob weight, nearly the same as 14.14 t/ha at 600 kg/ha.
- Treatment
- NPK application at 300 kg/hae0
- Outcome
- cob weighte0
- Direction
- nearly the samee0
- Value
- 13.29 t/hae0
- Qualifier
- 14.14 t/hae0
- Comparator
- 600 kg/hae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“NPK application at 300 kg/ha produced nearly the same cob weight (13.29 t/ha) as 600 kg/ha (14.14 t/ha)”
Claim · model-written summary
Industrial nano biochar gave the highest shelling percentage, 70.33%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The shelling percentage was highest under industrial nano biochar at 70.33%”
Claim · model-written summary
Industrial nano biochar had among the lowest total biomass, 52.69 t/ha in 2024.
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“though total biomass remained among the lowest, at 52.69 t/ha in 2024”
Claim · model-written summary
Gypsum nanobiochar gave the highest recorded harvest index, 0.41 in 2024, although differences were marginal.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“Harvest index varied marginally, with gypsum nanobiochar reaching 0.41 in 2024, the highest recorded”
Claim · model-written summary
Biochar amended with vermiculite significantly improved biomass and grain yield compared with control and industrial biochar.
- Treatment
- biochar amended with vermiculitee0
- Outcome
- biomass and grain yielde0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Comparator
- control and industrial biochare0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“biochar amended with vermiculite and gypsum significantly improved the biomass and grain yield compared to the control and industrial biochar”
Claim · model-written summary
Biochar amended with gypsum significantly improved biomass and grain yield compared with control and industrial biochar.
- Treatment
- gypsume0
- Outcome
- biomass and grain yielde0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Comparator
- control and industrial biochare0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“biochar amended with vermiculite and gypsum significantly improved the biomass and grain yield compared to the control and industrial biochar”
Claim · model-written summary
Biochar and NPK showed synergistic effects on growth and yield.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“The interaction between biochar and NPK revealed synergistic effects on growth and yield”
Claim · model-written summary
The biochar by NPK interaction had minimal impact on harvest index and shelling percentage.
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“minimal impact on harvest index and shelling percentage”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors support municipal organic waste biochar to improve maize productivity and reduce synthetic fertilizer dependence in arid regions.
- Treatment
- municipal organic waste -based biochare0
- Outcome
- improve maize productivity and reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizerse0
- Setting
- arid regionse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize (Zea mays L.)”
e0“These findings support the use of municipal organic waste -based biochar as a sustainable soil amendment to improve maize productivity and reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers in arid regions”
The same questions in other papers
lime · growth · Zea mays (maize)Results differ
40 papers in the same direction as this paper · 14 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- no effect
- negative
52 papers more in this group
See all 56 papers →lime · organism · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
6 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- positive
- positive
4 papers more in this group
See all 8 papers →biochar · organism · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
13 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- no effect
- no effect
13 papers more in this group
See all 17 papers →growing medium · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
31 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- no effect
- no effect
32 papers more in this group
See all 36 papers →growing medium · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
31 papers in the same direction as this paper · 7 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- negative
- negative
36 papers more in this group
See all 40 papers →biochar · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
179 papers in the same direction as this paper · 9 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- negative
- no effect
186 papers more in this group
See all 190 papers →biochar · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
174 papers in the same direction as this paper · 15 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- no effect
- negative
189 papers more in this group
See all 193 papers →lime · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
184 papers in the same direction as this paper · 31 in the opposite direction · 3 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- negative
- no effect
215 papers more in this group
See all 219 papers →8 of 11 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.