Field Evaluation of Decanter Cake and Biochar Amendments: Agronomic Performance, Cost-Benefit, and Carbon Implications for Kulai Chili in a Tropical Environment

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-944-5_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Kulai chili; decanter cake; biochar; cost-benefit analysis; carbon-sequestration

Abstract

Kulai chili (Capsicum annuum L. var. Kulai) is a key horticultural crop in Malaysia, valued for its high yield potential and importance to local cuisine and livelihoods. However, domestic production falls short of national demand, resulting in significant imports and underscoring the need for more sustainable and productive cultivation methods. Excessive reliance on chemical fertilizers has raised concerns about long-term soil health, prompting interest in organic amendments such as decanter cake (DC) and decanter cake biochar (DCB) as alternatives for improving soil fertility and crop performance. This study addresses the gap in comparative research on the effects of DC and DCB, applied at varying dosages, on the growth and yield of Kulai chili. Field experiments revealed that DC significantly outperformed DCB in terms of plant height, fruit number, yield per plant, and shoot biomass, likely due to its higher organic matter and more readily available nutrients. In contrast, DCB, despite its higher phosphorus content, did not lead to increased yield, possibly because of slower nutrient release and potential nutrient immobilization at higher dosages. Economic analysis further demonstrated that DC amendments generated substantially higher net returns and benefit-cost ratios compared to DCB, confirming DC as a more profitable strategy for short-term chili production. Significant interactions between amendment type and dosage were observed for fruit number, fruit weight, and biomass, while correlation analysis highlighted strong positive relationships among shoot biomass, plant height, and yield. Raw decanter cake proved more effective than biochar for enhancing Kulai chili growth and yield under the tested conditions, while biochar requires careful management to avoid negative impacts. However, carbon contribution estimates based on IPCC Tier 1 guidelines suggest that biochar plays an important long-term role in soil carbon storage, underscoring a trade-off between immediate yield gains and broader climate-smart sustainability. The study highlights amendment-specific nutrient and carbon dynamics between decanter cake and its biochar derivative, providing insight into their agronomic trade-offs under tropical conditions.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Siti Sahmsiah Sahmat
AU  - Norhasnan Sahari
AU  - Abdul Rahman Saili
AU  - Nur Aina Zamahari
AU  - Norhayati Ahmed Sajali
AU  - Sharifah Mazenah Wan Yusuf
AU  - Mohammad Azizi H. Jamil
AU  - Agus Suyanto
AU  - Mohd Zaid Amin
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/26
TI  - Field Evaluation of Decanter Cake and Biochar Amendments: Agronomic Performance, Cost-Benefit, and Carbon Implications for Kulai Chili in a Tropical Environment
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Energy: Toward Energy Transition and Net-Zero Emission (ICOSE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 18
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-944-5_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-944-5_2
ID  - Sahmat2025
ER  -