Experts in Cuban eastern province apply plant biomass in agriculture

LAS TUNAS, Cuba, Nov 28 (ACN) For the first time in Las Tunas province, biochar will be applied directly to soils used for agriculture, in order to improve quality and reduce the use of agro-industrial techniques and equipment.

The biomass of vegetable origin is the surplus of the charcoal producing company in the province and is part of a physical-chemical study of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin University and the Applied Research Enterprise (ENIA by its Spanish acronym) in Las Tunas.

We are involved in the analysis of the characteristics that it gives to the soil, in key aspects such as sedimentation and humidity and, of course, in the assessment of possible secondary effects in the short, medium or long term, commented exclusively to the Cuban News Agency the director of ENIA, Abdel Roberto Santana Garcia.

We conducted tests, added the manager, which cover up to 80% of application on a hectare, which allows us to identify the physical process that causes both water filtration and compaction and the period with which it should be done.

We have confirmed the potential strength, proven in sesame crops in a first stage, of the fertility it guarantees to the land under exploitation; among the benefits of its use is the reduction of plowing techniques that often cause erosion or affect other crops, Santana García pointed out.

Although biochar can be obtained from a wide variety of raw materials, the management of what is known in popular jargon as charcoal, derived from the industrial process based on marabú, is the most sustainable due to its widespread practice in the Cuban economic panorama.