Fe and Zn-loaded cotton-sticks biochar and organic amendments improves chickpea production by enhancing ionic uptake and chemical properties of sandy soils

Low nutrient availability in sandy soils is a serious threat to crop productivity. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of cotton-sticks biochar, sugarcane press-mud, and vegetable compost on soil chemical properties and chickpea yield in sandy soils. Two chickpea varieties, Bittal-2016 and Noor-2019, were grown in soil amended with cotton-sticks biochar at 10 and 15 Mg ha⁻¹; sugarcane press-mud at 10 and 15 Mg ha⁻¹; vegetable compost at 10 and 15 Mg ha⁻¹; cotton-sticks biochar at 10 and 15 Mg ha⁻¹ plus loaded with Fe/Zn including no amendment. Cotton-sticks biochar at 15 Mg ha⁻¹ loaded with Fe/Zn significantly increased chlorophyll (48.40), N (3.1, 2.5, and 3.9%), P (1.13%, 1.10, and 1.4%), and K (1.44, 2.26, and 1.27%) in root, shoot, and grains of var. Noor-2019. Soil amended with vegetable compost at 10 Mg ha⁻¹ and Fe/Zn-loaded biochar at 15 Mg ha⁻¹ exhibited a marked increase in shoot length (43.2 cm), root length (25.8 cm), root fresh weight (8.0 g), pods per plant (34), 100-grain weight (32.7 g), and grain yield (25.9 g) for var. Noor-2019. Amended soil with Fe/Zn-loaded biochar at 10 Mg ha⁻¹ depicted a remarkable increase in soil EC, pH, OM, and N by 2.12 dS m⁻¹, 8.4, 0.67% and 0.20%, respectively. Conclusively, Fe/Zn-loaded cotton-sticks biochar at 15 Mg ha⁻¹ and vegetable compost at 10 Mg ha⁻¹ effectively improved the soil chemical properties, nutrient uptake, and yield of var. Noor-2019. Hence, cotton-sticks biochar could be used as eco-friendly approach for improving chickpea production in coarse-textured soils.