Muhammad Imran Ghani, Mohammad Abass Ahanger, Tanveer Ali Sial, Sajjad Haider, Junaid Ali Siddique, Ruidong Fan, Yanjiang Liu, Esmat F Ali, Manish Kumar, Xing Yang, Jörg Rinklebe, Xiaoyulong Chen, Sang Soo Lee, Sabry M Shaheen
The effectiveness of almond shell-derived biochar (ASB) in immobilizing soil heavy metals (HMs) and its impact on soil microbial activity and diversity have not been sufficiently studied. Hence, a pot study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of ASB addition at 2, 4, and 6 % (w/w) on soil biochemical characteristics and the bioavailability of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants, as compared to the control (contaminated soil without ASB addition). The addition of ASB promoted plant growth (up to two-fold) and restored the damage to the ultrastructure of chloroplast organelles...
April 21, 2024: Science of the Total Environment