Effects of Sewage Sludge-Derived Hydrochar and Nitrogen on Growth Characteristics of Rice in a Cu-Spiked Soil in a greenhouse experiment

To evaluate the effects of different levels of sewage sludge and sewage sludge-derived hydrochar a greenhouse experiment was performed in a factorial combination based on a completely randomized design with three replications and three factors of organic matter at three levels (control, 10g sewage sludge, and 10 g sewage sludge-derived hydrochar per kilogram), nitrogen at two levels (0, and 250 mg per kg soil as urea), and copper at three levels (0, 10, and 250 mg Cu per kilogram as copper sulfate). The results showed that by applications of sewage sludge and its hydrochar, the dry matters of shoot and root, tillers number, spikes number, leaves number, leaf length, leaf width, plant height, and stem diameter were significantly increased as compared to the control and the amount of this increase in the presence of sewage sludge was greater than that of hydrochar. Also, the using of 250 mg N per kilogram increased the mentioned characteristics relative to the control. The soil contamination Cu significantly reduced the tillers number, spikes number, leaves number, and root dry matter as compared to the control. The use of sewage sludge hydrochar and N fertilizer reduced the Cu toxicity and increased rice tolerance to Cu toxicity by reducing the Cu concentration in rice shoot. To achieve rice optimum growth in both Cu contaminated and non-contaminated conditions, the use of 10 g sewage sludge or sewage sludge-derived hydrochar and 250 mg N per kilogram soil can be recommended at similar conditions.