Biochar based Seed Biopriming for Enhancing Yield Quality Attributes of Spinach

Spinach, scientifically known as Spinacia oleracea, a fast-growing crop with culinary and nutritional interests allover the world is an important vegetable crop belonging to the family Amranthaceae. It is an annual vegetable crop grown for its nutrient-rich, dark green leaves originated in Southwest Asia and was introduced to Europe in 12th century. In India, major spinach producing states are Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (Rani et al., 2020). It is rich in iron, calcium, vitamin A, C and K that plays a crucial role in supporting bone health, immune functioning and thereby improving health. Spinach is a cool season crop that grown well undercool weather with well-drained soil and consistent moisture conditions. The crop faces challenges due to decline in soil fertility, water retention capacity and thereby need is therefor some organic amendments for sustainable agricultural practices that improve soil health with crop growth and yield. Biochar is an organic carbon-rich material which is produced through the action of pyrolysis of the biomass under limited oxygen conditions that has gained considerable attention as a promising tool for sustainable agriculture (Lehmann et al., 2006). The characteristics of biochar involving its porous structure, high cation exchange capacity with its ability to enhance soil fertility and water retention capacity thereby makes it a suitable candidate for its utilization assoil amendment (Liang et al., 2006; Chan et al., 2007; Ghori et al., 2019; Enaime et al. 2021; Ramamoorthy et al., 2024). Biochar being a organic compound has the potential to influence soil microbiome with increase enzymatic activity (Lehmann et al., 2011). Seed health is as important assoil heath for promoting the crop productivity. Seed biopriming, a component of seed priming is a pre sowing treatment of seeds with biological agents that activates the enzymatic reactions inside the seed and thereby conditioning it by activating defense reactions for better adaptability to growing conditions. In recent years, biochar has also been utilized as a seed biopriming agent with a potential to enhance seed germination, seedling vigor and stress tolerance (Joseph et al., 2013; Farooq et al., 2020). Seed biopriming is a type of physiological treatment strategy that enhances the plant growth even under stress conditions by utilizing hydration to promote water absorption before the radicle emergence (Takoliya et al., 2018). This method not only increases the rate and uniformity of seed germination but also strengthens the defense response of plants against the biotic stress by improving the activity of beneficial microbial activity on spermosphere (Parsad et al., 2015). Utilization of biochar assoil amendment has a potential in maintain soil pH, preventing nutrient leaching and enhancing the activity of nutrients and organic matter in degraded soil, aids in carbon sequestration and thereby aligning with the goals of sustainable agriculture (Jeffery et al., 2011; Hussain et al., 2017; Ahmad et al., 2024).

Biochar application enhances the seed germination, vigor index with increase in plant height and shoot length which are indicative of their improved vegetative growth and biomass accumulation thereby contributing to improved quality and yield of crop (Naggar et al., 2019; Abborova et al., 2023). The present study was carried outwith aim to study the potential of biochar as seed biopriming and soil amendment treatment both in combination or as alone on growth parameters of spinach for further utilization in crop growth and productivity.