Abstract:
Nitrogen fertilizers are essential to improve the crop yield and meet the food demand of the growing
global population. Half the world population is dependent on nitrogen fertilizers hence, they play an
important role in ensuring food security. However, Nitrogen Use Efficiency is constantly declining
and has been reduced to 33% globally and 23-25% in Pakistan. This is due to ineffective fertilizer
application methods and management practices which cause excessive nitrogen losses to the
environment such as ammonia volatilization, leaching of nitrates. Thus, this necessitates the
development of innovative strategies to cope with the declining NUE by reducing nitrogen losses to
prevent environmental pollution associated with fertilizer use. Foliar fertilizers are being developed
and used to achieve high fertilizer use efficiency and improve agricultural yield due to their enhanced
nutrient uptake efficiency. They are sprayed directly on leaves which fulfills the micronutrient
deficiencies of plants and prevents excess fertilizer waste. Biochar which is a carbon rich residue
has been proved beneficial for the crops and improving their productivity. It improves the soil
structure, nutrient retention process, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and leaching of nitrates to
prevent contamination of air and water. This study aims to explore the benefits of biochar based foliar
fertilizer to test the effectiveness of foliar applied nutrients focusing on their potential to enhance
yield quality and nitrogen use efficiency.
