Improving sweet potato growth in tropical agricultural soil

Aug 1, 2022
1 min read

The growth of sweet potatoes and yield of the tubers significantly increased in this biochar amended tropical soil study.

What did they find?

The study showed consistently that the physico-chemical property changes were the cause of this increase in growth and yield.

A combination of biochar and poultry manure was found to improve growth and tuber yield.

The biochar was made from poultry manure for this field study the best results were found with the rates of 30tha-1B and 10t ha-1 P (B Biochar, P Poultry Manure). The study was in Alfisols, southwest Nigeria.

Important sidenote:

A noticeable side product of this field study on sweet potatoes was an improvement in soil bulk density, porosity, and moisture content. There was also a significant increase in soil pH, OC, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg.