Corn Waste with Addition of Biochar as New Alternative of Soil Media

Corn waste is now an alarming environmental issue. Every year, an estimated 300,000 metric tons of corn waste was produced in Malaysia. Most of the waste is either landfilled or burned which releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Corncobs and husk as organic planting medium are a potential solution to this issue. It is abundant, easily obtained and offers multiple benefits as planting media. They are light, porous, absorbent and aid in soil structure as well as holding nutrients that are good for plants. It helps to minimize the amount of waste and improve soil quality and crop yields. Furthermore, using corn waste might be a cost-effective strategy to boost crop yields and have great economic potential as planting media. The organic planting industry is growing and there is rising demand for sustainable and cost-effective alternatives for plant media. To satisfy the need, corn waste is a potential choice. Our product is made of corn, and it went through a few processes to become a soil media such as grinding and drying process. With the addition of biochar, we also provided steps of making it such as baking process until it forms into carbon rich charcoal. To compare our product with coco peat, we raise an argument on the amount of carbon dioxide that was produced and preserving environment quality.