Properties of Recycled Nanomaterials and Their Effect on Biological Activity and Yield of Canola in Degraded Soils

Abstract

Recycling waste, such as rice straw and water treatment residuals, is important to reduce harmful effects on the environment and to improve canola yield and soil quality in degraded soils. Nanotechnology for the production of nanomaterials from biochar and water treatment residues will be a future revolution for improving soil quality and increasing canola yield in degraded soil. Therefore, this study aims to identify the properties of some recycled nanomaterials, such as nanobiochar (nB) and nanowater treatment residue (nWTR), and their effect on the biological activity and productivity of canola in degraded soils. The results showed that the nWTR and nB contain many functional groups and minerals, and they also have high negative zeta potential. The addition of the studied soil amendments significantly improved microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and biological activity, which played a major role in increasing canola yield. The highest dehydrogenase (DHA) and catalase (CLA) activity was found in nWTR-treated soil at 50 mg kg−1, with increases of 32.8% and 566.7% compared to the control, respectively. The addition of nB greatly improved the growth of canola plants in the soil. This was evident from the increase in the weight of seeds, the weight of 1000 grains, the number of pods per plant, and the highest increase was for nB added at the rate of 250 mg per kg−1 soil. The addition of 50 mg kg−1 of nWTR gave the best results in seed yield by 150.64% compared to the control. These results indicate that recycled nWTR and nB are some of the best waste recycling treatments, in addition to good soil health, in increasing soil biology and canola yield in degraded soils. In the future, research on recycled nanomaterials should examine the residual effect they have on yield, soil quality, and soil fauna in the long term.