Biochar and its manure-based feedstock have divergent effects on soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in croplands
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Soil carbon
Amendment
Soil conditioner
Biochar is a multifunctional soil conditioner capable of enhancing soil health and crop production while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding how soil microbes respond to biochar amendment is a vital step toward precision biochar application. Here, we quantitatively synthesized 3899 observations of 24 microbial responses from 61 primary studies worldwide. Biochar significantly boosts microbial abundance [microbial biomass carbon (MBC) > colony-forming unit (CFU)] and C- and N-cycling functions (dehydrogenase > cellulase > urease > invertase > nirS) and increases the potential nitrification rate by 40.8% while reducing cumulative N2O by 12.7%. Biochar derived at lower pyrolysis temperatures can better improve dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase and thus nutrient retention, but it also leads to more cumulative CO2. Biochar derived from lignocellulose or agricultural biomass can better inhibit N2O through modulating denitrification genes nirS and nosZ; repeated biochar amendment may be needed as inhibition is stronger in shorter durations. This study contributes to our understanding of microbial responses to soil biochar amendment and highlights the promise of purpose-driven biochar production and application in sustainable agriculture such that biochar preparation can be tuned to elicit the desired soil microbial responses, and an amendment plan can be optimized to invoke multiple benefits. We also discussed current knowledge gaps and future research needs.
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Biochar has been applied in soil amelioration due to its multiple agricultural and environmental benefits. Biochar sample (BC) and biochar-based amendment (AD) were added into a poor quality soil (light sierozem) collected from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region at the rates of 0%, 1.5%, 3% and 5% (w/w), respectively. Maize ( Zea mays ) was chosen as a test plant, and the effect of BC and AD on its growth was investigated. The results indicated that the maize biomass increased by 44.4-96.2% and 113.8-187.3% in the soils amended with BC and AD, respectively. Therefore, BC and AD may be used as the poor quality soil amendments.
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Biochar has been widely applied in soils as an eco-friendly amendment. So far, knowledge on the biochar properties and amendment has made considerable progress by the collaboration among researchers working in different fields of study. This chapter provided a review on the biochar production technology and the commonly used feedstocks. The characteristics of biochar and the effect of biochar as a soil amendment on the soil qualities, crop yield and emission of greenhouse gases (CO 2 , N 2 O and CH 4 ) were systematically summarized. The following aspects which still need to be further resolved were identified: (i) analyzing the role of mineral including biomass-inherent mineral and exogenous mineral, in the pyrolysis process and biochar properties; (ii) revealing hydrochar production condition, properties and the effects on soil qualities and greenhouse gas emissions; (iii) identifying primary factors controlling the stability of biochar; (iv) elucidating the mechanisms for the observed changes in N 2 O and CH 4 emissions after biochar amendment.
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Lolium multiflorum
Lolium
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Biochar preparation using portable drum technology is an affordable strategy for efficient use of unused and excess crop residues. The aim of this study was to prepare biochar from pigeonpea and cotton residues at farm level and characterising their soil amendment qualities. The fabricated drum for the preparation of biochar suits the needs of small farmer. The slow pyrolysis (350 to 400 oC temp. range) process yields 24.5 and 22.6% of biochar, correspondingly 16.2 and 18.5% ash content from pigeonpea and cotton residues respectively. The physico-chemical properties of both biochars were compared for assessing soil amendment qualities. The pH of pigeonpea and cotton biochar is 9.86 and 9.82 respectively, which indicates the suitability of both biochar for soil acidity amelioration. Bulk density of pigeonpea and cotton biochar is 0.26 and 0.29 g/cm-3 respectively. the lower BD indicating more pore space, which leads to better soil aeration and more water holding capacity. The carbon recovery of pigeonpea (27.6%) and cotton (29.0%) biochar after thermo-chemical conversion indicates the carbon sequestration potential of both biochar in the background of climate change. Besides, both biochar material contains small concentration of major plant nutrients which improve soil fertility. Therefore, production of biochar under modified drum method suits the small farmer. Besides the properties of both pigeonpea and cotton biochar has greatest soil amendment qualities for soil application.
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Biochar amendment can alter soil properties, for instance, the ability to adsorb and degrade different chemicals. However, ageing of the biochar, due to processes occurring in the soil over time, can influence such biochar-mediated effects. This study examined how biochar affected adsorption and degradation of two herbicides, glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)-glycine) and diuron (3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea) in soil and how these effects were modulated by ageing of the biochar. One sandy and one clayey soil that had been freshly amended with a wood-based biochar (0, 1, 10, 20 and 30% w/w) were studied. An ageing experiment, in which the soil-biochar mixtures were aged for 3.5 months in the laboratory, was also performed. Adsorption and degradation were studied in these soil and soil-biochar mixtures, and compared to results from a soil historically enriched with charcoal. Biochar amendment increased the pH in both soils and increased the water-holding capacity of the sandy soil. Adsorption of diuron was enhanced by biochar amendment in both soils, while glyphosate adsorption was decreased in the sandy soil. Ageing of soil-biochar mixtures decreased adsorption of both herbicides in comparison with freshly biochar-amended soil. Herbicide degradation rates were not consistently affected by biochar amendment or ageing in any of the soils. However, glyphosate half-lives correlated with the Freundlich Kf values in the clayey soil, indicating that degradation was limited by availability there.
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Charcoal
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Biochar is a fine-grained and porous material, which is produced by pyrolyzing biomass under anaerobic or oxygen-limiting condition. Due to the aromatic structure, it is resistant to the biotic and abiotic degradation which makes biochar production a promising carbon sequestration technology, and it has attracted widespread attention. Factors including biochar production, biochar stability in soil and the response of plant growth and soil organic carbon to the biochar addition can influence the carbon sequestration potential of biochar. Through exploring the mechanisms of biochar carbon sequestration, the influence of these factors was studied. Furthermore, the research progress of carbon sequestration potential and its economic viability were examined. Finally, aiming at the knowledge gaps in the influencing factors as well as the relationship between these factors, some further research needs were proposed for better application of biochar in China.
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Summary Compost amendment has been reported to impact soil microbial activities or community composition. However, little information is available on (i) to what extent compost amendment concurrently affects the activity, size and composition of soil microbial community, (ii) the relative effect of the addition of a material rich in organic matter versus addition of compost‐borne microorganisms in explaining the effects of amendment and (iii) the resilience of community characteristics. We compared five treatments in microcosms: (i) control soil (S), (ii) soil + low level of compost (Sc), (iii) soil + high level of compost (SC), (iv) sterilized soil + high level of compost [(S)C] and (v) soil + high level of sterilized compost [S(C)]. The actual C mineralization rate, substrate‐induced respiration, size of microbial community (biomass and heterotrophic cells number), and structure of total microbial (phospholipid fatty acids) and bacterial (automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, A‐RISA) communities were surveyed during 6 months after amendment. Our results show that (i) compost amendment affected the activity, size and composition of the soil microbial community, (ii) the effect of compost amendment was mainly due to the physicochemical characteristics of compost matrix rather than to compost‐borne microorganisms and (iii) no resilience of microbial characteristics was observed 6–12 months after amendment with a high amount of compost.
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