Biochar de residuos de caña de azúcar: dosis y efectos en el cultivo de maíz (zea mays l.)

Abstract

Corn is one of the most important cereals worldwide, ranking first in production and third in terms of area covered, after wheat and rice. This crop has an enormous genetic richness that man has been creating over the years. In Ecuador, it is widely used in human and animal feed for the manufacture of animal feed. According to the volume of production, it is grown mainly in Los Ríos, Manabí, Guayas and Loja and to a lesser extent in other provinces to take advantage of the rains. Despite being very important, production does not cover the national need, so a significant amount is imported to satisfy the country. The main objective of this research was to determine the best dose of biochar and the effect it causes when applied to corn plants from the initial stage until harvest. It was developed in the experimental area of the Santa Inés farm, belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Technical University of Machala, located at km 5.5 of the Machala-Pasaje road. Two varieties were planted: Hercules and ADV 9735 and four treatments were used with a control: T1 and T2 (2 and 4 g of sugarcane residue biochar respectively) and T3 and T4 (2 and 4 g of corn taraya residue). For the development of the research, 20 beds of 7 x 2.10 m separated by 0.80 m and with an aisle of 1 m were constructed, each bed was divided in two at 0.50 m to separate the biochar depending on the origin, in addition, for a better development, sprinkler irrigation was installed in the experimental area. The variables evaluated were: plant height, ear length, ear diameter, ear weight, ear diameter, ear diameter, rachis weight, rachis diameter, ear row arrangement, ear cover and ear damage. The data obtained were processed in the IBM SPSS STATICS 22 software where inter-subject effects tests were carried out to determine the significance between groups. The treatments used showed significant differences, for the variable Arrangement of rows in the ear, variety 2 presented irregularly with 2.01 and with the application of 2 g doses of corn residue biochar, the variable ear damage was obtained less damage in variety 1 with 0.79 and with corn residue biochar, for the variable length of the ear, the best result was obtained with 13. 21 cm with variety 1 Hercules and with the application of 4 g of sugarcane biochar doses, for variety 2 ADV 9735 and with the application of 2 g of sugarcane residues, better results were obtained for the variables, ear weight with 75.26 grams, ear diameter with 36.62 mm, ear weight with 13.18 grams, ear diameter with 23.31 mm and rachis diameter with 14.14 mm. These results show that sugarcane residue biochar influences some of the agronomic characteristics of the crop with relatively small doses.