Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2017, 65(5), 1615-1622 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201765051615

Effects of Biochar Application on Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Roots Under Long-term Drought Conditions

Zdenek Svoboda, Jaroslav Záhora, Helena Dvořáčková
Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

The main objective of this paper was to evaluate the effect of applying biochar and activated carbon on winter wheat affected by drought in model laboratory conditions. Cultivation tests of the soil-microorganisms-plant (winter wheat) system were focused on understanding the interactions between microbial soil communities and experimental plants in response to specific cultivation measures, in combination with the modelled effect of drought. The containers were formed as a split-root rhizotron. In this container experiment, the root system of one and the same plant was divided into two separate compartments where into one half, biochar or activated carbon has been added. The other half without additives was a control. Plants favoured the formation of the root system in the treated part of the container under both drought and irrigation modes. In drought mode there was lower production of CO2, lower overall length and surface of the roots of winter wheat compared to variants in irrigation mode. The application of biochar and activated carbon, therefore, supported the colonization of roots by mycorrhiza in general. The Scientific merit of this paper was to investigate the possibility of mitigating the effects of a long-term drought on winter wheat through the application of biochar or the application of activated carbon.

Keywords: soil, mycorrhiza, split-root rhizotron, biochar, CO2, N2O, roots
Grants and funding:

This article was written at Mendel University in Brno as a part of the project IGA AF MENDELU no. TP 7/2015 with the support of the Specific University Research Grant, provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic in 2015. The experiment was carried out in pavilion M financed by OP R & DI project CZ.1.05/4.1.00/04.0135 Tutorial and research capacities for biotechnology and infrastructure extension.

Published: October 31, 2017  Show citation

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Svoboda, Z., Záhora, J., & Dvořáčková, H. (2017). Effects of Biochar Application on Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Roots Under Long-term Drought Conditions. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(5), 1615-1622. doi: 10.11118/actaun201765051615
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