Continuous use of chemical fertilizers is detrimental to soil health and crop productivity. Therefore, we need to recycle the agroresidues in the valorized form (e.g., biochar or compost) to improve soil quality while maintaining crop yield. This study compares different nutrient management practices using varied dose combinations of biochar/compost for sustainable production of rice. We present the results from a controlled environment study under nine different nutrient management options to assess the effect of a novel legume biochar fertilizer compared with legume-derived compost. Our results suggest that a relatively smaller dose of soil test-based balanced fertilization (75% of required nutrients) added with novel biochar (25% nutrient equivalence) is the best combination in nutrient-poor vertisols of semi-arid tropics. The yield benefits from novel biochar fertilizer might find relevance to similar total–N content to compost, although there are noticeable differences in other macronutrients, secondary, and micronutrients. The surface area and C:N ratio are significantly higher for biochar (i.e., 4.47 m²g⁻¹; 37.68) than that of compost (i.e., 0.87m²g⁻¹; 10.5) which provides a boost to rhizospheric interactions resulting in higher plant nutrient uptake resulting in improved plant growth attributes at lower doses. In addition, integrated biochar with mineral fertilizers improves soil organic carbon at the harvest of paddy by 44–54% than sole mineral fertilizer compared to a meager increase (10–15%) in compost. This study suggests a novel alternative (as legume biochar fertilizer) to compost that can have policy implications for developing a carbon-negative fertilization technique in paddy farming.

持续使用化肥不利于土壤健康和作物生产力。因此，我们需要以有价值的形式（例如生物炭或堆肥）回收农业残留物，以改善土壤质量，同时保持作物产量。本研究比较了使用不同剂量的生物炭/堆肥组合实现水稻可持续生产的不同养分管理实践。我们展示了在九种不同营养管理选项下进行的受控环境研究的结果，以评估与豆类衍生堆肥相比新型豆类生物炭肥料的效果。我们的结果表明，相对较小剂量的基于土壤测试的平衡施肥（所需养分的 75%）添加新型生物炭（25% 养分当量）是半干旱热带地区营养贫乏的土壤的最佳组合。尽管其他常量营养素、次要营养素和微量营养素存在显着差异，但新型生物炭肥料的产量收益可能与与堆肥相似的总氮含量有关。生物炭的表面积和 C:N 比显着更高（即 4.47 m² g ^-1；37.68) 比堆肥（即 0.87m ² g ^-1 ; 10.5），它提供了对根际相互作用的促进，导致更高的植物养分吸收，从而在较低剂量下改善植物生长特性。此外，与堆肥的微薄增加 (10-15%) 相比，与单一矿物肥料相比，将生物炭与矿物肥料结合使用可将水稻收获时的土壤有机碳提高 44-54%。这项研究提出了一种新的堆肥替代品（如豆类生物炭肥料），它可能对在水稻种植中开发碳负施肥技术具有政策意义。