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Abstract

Purpose: Finding natural alternatives to mineral fertilizers, especially in calcareous and alkaline soils, is essential for agricultural sustainability. A suitable alternative for fixing phosphorus (P) in alkaline soils is still unclear. Therefore, acidified fish waste biochar (ABC), which is rich in P and available, cheap, and eco-friendly, was used to improve the availability of P in alkaline soils. Methods: This biochar was added at a rate of 1% (BC1), 2% (BC2), and 3% (BC3) compared to super phosphate as chemical fertilizer (CF) in addition to the control (CK). Results: The outcomes demonstrated that ABC improves soil chemical characteristics. In comparison to the control, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were more readily available. The highest available values of N, P, and K were recorded for BC3, while the lowest one was observed with the control treatment. It was observed that N, P and K uptake with CF increased by 31.27, 53.43, and 8.43%, respectively, and the corresponding values were 222.13, 387.90, and 93.93% at the highest biochar rate (BC3). Conclusions: The incorporation of ABC improved fennel plant growth characteristics due to suitable management practices. It might be concluded that the application of ABC up to 3% (BC3) improved alkaline soil fertility and fennel crop growth. This study is an attempt to overcome the problem of P unavailability in alkaline soils, and long-term ABC application under field conditions is recommended as a future direction to confirm the findings.

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