Integrated Use of Bio-inoculants and Biochar for Marginal Soils in Guyana's Savannah

Authors: Tracy Persaud and Gomathinayagam Subramanian (University of Guyana), and Danilo López-Hernández (Central University of Venezuela). Published in World Environment, Volume 13, Issue 1 (2023), pages 29 to 42. DOI: 10.5923/j.env.20231301.03.

This peer-reviewed review looks at how Guyana can develop its hinterland soils as a new agricultural frontier as climate change (sea level rise, salinization, and flooding) puts pressure on the coastal farming belt. It concludes that the combined use of biochar and bio-inoculants (plant growth-promoting microorganisms) is among the most effective and sustainable ways to improve marginal, acidic, sandy soils.

The authors explain how biochar improves the soil's physical properties, nutrient retention, and microbial activity, and how it works together with beneficial microbes such as nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that raise the availability of nutrients, especially phosphorus, for crops.