Biochar based Seed Biopriming for Enhancing Yield Quality Attributes of Spinach

Abstract— Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), a winter season leafy vegetable, is widely consumed due to its high nutritional value, involving Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and iron. Enhancing the productivity and nutritional quality of spinach through eco-friendly practices has become an essential component in the context of sustainable agriculture. One such promising approach involves the use of biochar, an organic carbon-rich material which produced through the pyrolysis of organic biomass. Apart from soil application, biochar can also be used as a seed biopriming agent to enhance germination rate, seedling vigor, and stress tolerance in crops. This study is designed to evaluate the combined and individual effects of biochar used as a seed biopriming agent and soil amendment on the growth and yield parameters of spinach. The field experiment was conducted at the Amity Institute of Organic Agriculture in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with six treatments as biochar at 2%, 5%, and 10% (v/v) in both seed priming and soil application, seed priming alone, soil application alone, and a control without biochar.