BIOCHAR: A GREEN AMENDMENT FOR INDIAN SOIL

India is an agricultural land and is facing challenges like increasing population and changing climate, which needs to be addressed. Conversion of agricultural waste to manure that boosts the yield of the crops and retains nutrients and moisture in soil as well, ages back to thousand years. Biochar, which can be synthesized by different heat treatment methods such as torrefacation, pyrolysis, gasification, hydrothermal and flash carbonization, is rich in carbon. Type of biomass and its composition, conditions of heat treatment such as temperature, time and heating rate manipulates the properties of biochar. Augmentations of biochar in soil increment the richness as well as lessen green house gas emissions and remediate the polluted soil moreover. The physio-chemical properties of biochar emphatically impact its application in agriculture. This review summarizes the biochar production methods and recent advances in biochar research in context to agriculture.