Abstract
Arid regions are mainly characterized by extreme environmental conditions, which strongly affect crop production and therefore, could not allow to satisfy the high food demand. During the past decades, chemicals fertilizers have been intensively used to increase crop yield. However, significant applications of chemical fertilizers have showed adverse effects on the environment in many previous works. Therefore, this study attempts to convert plant parts of dates palm (leaflet, petiole, and fruits) into biochar. Furthermore, this work also aims to determine the physiochemical composition of the biomaterial and its potentialities in improving plant growth of Ocimum basilicum at different levels including 0, 1.5, and 3% hydroponically. Based on our results, physiochemical parameters of the tested biochar revealed that 3% fruit biochar had the highest water drainage (42 ml), while petiole biochar at the same concentration without Hoagland had the highest pH (8.38) and EC (3452.66 µS/cm). Electrical properties, such as voltage (2.93 V) and current (0.14 mA), and plant metrics, including shoot and root growth, showed significant improvement, particularly with 3% of leaflet biochar and Hoagland application. Strong correlations between electrochemical properties (voltage, current) and plant growth were observed, with values ranging from 0.62 to 0.98. These findings suggest that biochar derived from date palm can be a valuable amendment for improving hydroponic crop production, particularly in arid regions.