ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1615939
Effect of Biochar with Microbial Agents on Enzyme Activity in Sewage Irrigated Soil
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of Land Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd., Xi'an, China
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To investigate the effectiveness of combined microbial agents and biochar in improving enzyme activity in sewage-irrigated soil and promoting plant growth, a pot experiment was conducted using sewage-irrigated soil treated with varying ratios of Bacillus subtilis (BS), Trichoderma harzianum (TH), and corn stover biochar (CSB). The study examined changes in soil enzyme activities and the plant height and aboveground biomass of Festuca arundinacea. The results showed that soil sucrase, phosphatase, and urease activities increased with increasing dosages of microbial agents and biochar, reaching their maximum levels under the T6 treatment (BS (0.5 g/kg) + TH (1 g/kg) + CSB (10 g/kg)). Soil catalase activity exhibited an initial increase followed by a decrease with increasing application rates. Heatmap revealed significant positive correlations among the four soil enzyme activities. At 180 days of cultivation, both plant height (34.28 cm) and aboveground biomass (23.14 g) of tall fescue were significantly highest under the T6 treatment (p < 0.05), markedly exceeding those of the control (CK). In conclusion, the co-application of microbial agents and biochar enhances enzyme activity, plant height, and aboveground biomass in sewage-irrigated soil. The T6 ratio represents the optimal combination identified in this study, demonstrating the significant potential of microbial agents and biochar for improving the quality of sewage-irrigated soils.
Keywords: Sewage Irrigated Soil, Bacillus subtilis, Trichoderma harzianum, corn stover biochar, Soil enzyme activity
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 16 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Liu and Meng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pei Sun, Institute of Land Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd., Xi'an, China
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