Effect of biochar on nitrogen and phosphorus losses in broiler litters

Potential of biochar to reduce nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) leaching from three types of broiler litters was assessed. One thousand eighty (1080) day-old Hubbard F-15 male broilers (average body weight±SD, 35.8±1.32 g) fed with a commercial diet were raised on a litter containing either wood shavings (WS), paddy husk (PH) or paddy straw (PS) in triplicates (120 birds per replicate) until day 35. Representative litter samples collected from the respective pens on day-35 (n=9) were used to prepare litter samples either unamended (U) or amended (A) with rice (Oryza sativa) hull biochar produced through pyrolysis at 500 to 520 °C. A sample of red yellow podzolic soil was used as the control (C). The leachates obtained from the control (C), biochar unamended (UWS UPH; and UPS) and amended litter samples (AWS, APH and APS) were tested for N and P leach outs on day 0, 5, 10 and 15. A significant treatment x time interaction was observed for both N (P<0.05) and P (P<0.05) concentrations in leachates. The highest leaching of P and N was observed (P<0.05) in UPS over the period. Biochar amended WS, PH and PS significantly reduced (P<0.05) leaching of P and N compared to unamended counterpart but seemed to be highly time dependent. Amendment of WS with biochar reduced N (P<0.05) and P (P<0.05) leaching than the other two litter types tested over the period. The present study concluded that the WS has the best potential to reduce N and P leaching when amended with biochar.