The Effect of biochar and organic fertilizer application on soil chemical properties and soybean yield in dryland of West Timor, Indonesia

Abstract The drylands in West Timor hold significant potential area for expanding soybean plantations in Indonesia. However, the region’s infertile soil poses a major challenge. The application of organic soil amendments, such as rice husk biochar and tofu liquid waste organic fertilizer, offers a promising solution to address this limitation. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of rice husk biochar and tofu liquid waste organic fertilizer on soil chemical properties and soybean yield. The research was conducted as a two-factorial pot experiment, with rice husk biochar as the first factor and tofu liquid waste organic fertilizer as the second factor. While there was no significant interaction between the two treatments on the observed variables, their individual applications improved all measured parameters, including soil pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), available potassium (K), and seed dry weight per plant, compared to the control. Notably, CEC did not show improvement with the tofu liquid waste organic fertilizer treatment. Given the positive impacts of these soil amendments on soil properties and soybean yield, further studies are recommended to explore their potential for enhancing soil quality and crop productivity in the drylands of West Timor.