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Accepted manuscript

Physicochemical properties of biochar influence weed control efficiency of pre-emergence herbicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2026

Rakesh Kumar Ghosh
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, AL, USA
Nisith Nishank Purohit
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, AL, USA
Stephen A. Prior
Affiliation:
Research Plant Physiologist, USDA-ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory, Auburn, AL, USA
Aniruddha Maity*
Affiliation:
Assisstant Professor, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, AL, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Aniruddha Maity; Email: azm0343@auburn.edu
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Abstract

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A trial involving two types of biochar was conducted in two greenhouse experimental runs in 2025 to determine weed control efficiencies of two pre-emergence herbicides (metribuzin and S-metolachlor) at respective label-recommended rates to control Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) and crowfootgrass [Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Willd]. Plants were grown in a loamy soil amended with commercially available sugarcane and pinewood biochars (2 t ha-1). Complete control of both weeds was observed with the label-recommended doses of metribuzin and S-metolachlor in pinewood biochar-amended soils. Whereas in sugarcane (Saccharum officinale L.) biochar-amended soils, complete control of both weeds was achieved only with metribuzin at the label-recommended dose. The label-recommended dose of S-metolachlor provided nearly 47 and 74% control of A. palmeri and D. aegyptium, respectively, in sugarcane biochar-amended soils. Application of sugarcane biochar decreased the total residue of S-metolachlor as compared to soil with no or pinewood biochar and showed poor weed control efficiency (WCE). On day 7, nearly 3 and 24% germination for D. aegyptium and A. palmeri, respectively, were observed with S-metolachlor in sugarcane biochar-amended soils, whereas no germination was recorded in other treatments, which indicated biochar-herbicide-species specificity. Pearson correlation analysis showed negative associations between weed germination and soil herbicide residues across sampling times, though these relationships were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Results from this greenhouse study indicated that commercial biochars from different raw materials could influence the WCE of pre-emergence herbicides even at a low biochar dose (2 t ha-1). Field evaluations are necessary to understand the weed control dynamics.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Weed Science Society of America