Paper Title
APPLICATION OF RICE STRAW BIOCHAR BEADS AS A SOIL CONDITIONER ENHANCES PLANT GROWTH

Abstract
Abstract - Biomass burning is a global issue adversely affecting the air quality by emission of aerosols, greenhouse gases, and particulates, aggravating the challenges of climate change. Indian Subcontinent, in the tropical region, experiences plenty of biomass burning during the onset of winters, with rice straw as the primary biomass burning. It is one of the significant sources of pollution to which cities of Indo-Gangetic plains are exposed. Due to a lack of awareness to utilize the rice straw fruitfully, open-air burning is the quickest way to remove the stubbles left after using combined harvester. In the current study, Rice straw is collected from the field and pyrolyzed. The solid fraction biochar is flaky and light weighted; hence it will generate airborne and water-borne particles in large volumes. Therefore, it is formed into beads using a binder. The efficacy of Rice straw biochar beads (RAB) as a soil additive is tested through a pot experiment. The performance of RAB + Commercial fertilizer (CF) is compared with only CF and control treatment. The treatments are tested on Cicer aretinum and Spinacia oleracea and their respective Recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF). The Cicer aretinum plants treated with RAB+ RDF had 32.98 % and 44.64 % higher biomass and dry root weight, respectively, compared to only CF treatment (p<0.05). Similarly, for Spinacia oleracea, there was a significant enhancement in canopy cover, biomass, and root dry weight for RAB+ CF compared to only CF treatment (p<0.05). Moreover, Spinacia oleracea is a temperature-sensitive plant, and better resilience against temperature fluctuation was observed for plants treated with RAB+ CF than CF and control treatment. A well-stocked root system in the presence of RAB compared to only CF helps increase plants' nutrient uptake and contributes to better biomass growth. RAB+ CF treatment provides nutrients and conditioning properties to the soil. Despite the supply of RDF in CF-treated pots, the better biomass and root growth in RAB+ CF clearly shows the contribution of biochar. The statistical analysis ANOVA shows a significant difference in all the treatments provided in both the pot experiments (p<0.05).