Author

Nimisha Amist and Shonali Chaturvedi*

Abstract

Monoculture of high yielding crops is a common trend in modern agro-ecosystems. Farmers have recently embraced the practice of keeping stubbles and plant waste and incorporating them into their cropping systems. As soon as crop debris comes into touch with the soil, it begins to decompose. It is recognised that plant leftovers change the physical characteristics of soil. Crop quality and yield decline due to soil sickness brought on by the buildup of phytotoxic chemicals. The first stages of residue breakdown have been reported to have the most phytotoxicity. In the present study, the effect of Zea mays residue was evaluated on the succeeding crop (wheat). Soil culture experiments were conducted in the greenhouse. The residue (plant debris) was added to the garden soil in two concentrations (4,8 g/kg soil). The residue resulted in decline of growth of wheat seedling as observed through seedling height and biomass, pigment, protein and sugar content. Elevation in lipid peroxidation occurred reflecting the damage to cellular systems, even though a substantial increase in activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guaiacol peroxidase (POD) was observed. The phenolic content of soil also increased due to addition of residue. The most significant aspect of this study was to investigate the contribution of activated charcoal (AC) towards evading residue induced soil toxicity. AC has large surface area and pore volume, as well as due to its polarity possesses tremendous adsorptive capacity with complex chemical and physical properties. AC can be easily mixed into soil media and it did not impose any negative effect on the wheat seedlings and also decreased the level of soil phenolics in comparison to untreated soil. AC demonstrated counteracting effect on phenolic contents of crop residue and presented as possible solution for alleviation of the residue induced soil sickness.

Pages:332-339

Doi Number 10.61289/jibs2026.07.03.0278

Keywords Activated charcoal; allelochemicals; antioxidants; biomass; lipid peroxidations; wheat seedlings; maize residue.