Biochar amendment before or after composting affects compost quality and N losses, but not P plant uptake

Vandecasteele, Bart; Sinicco, Tania; D’Hose, Tommy; Nest, Thijs Vanden; Mondini, Claudio

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.11.045

Cited by 160 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Other studies examining BC and compost as soil amendments have not presented strong evidence for synergistic effects based on a conventional definition or analysis. The majority of published studies have used a "substitutive" design for BC plus compost treatments, where the total dosage of soil amendment is kept constant, but the ratios changed (e.g., [37,39,41,[46][47][48]; others have used experimental designs that do not involve additive combinations [38,42,46], or that do not include a BC-only treatment [31]. In the "substitutive" cases, the BC + compost treatments are modified in terms of both the BC dosage and addition of compost, and one thus cannot infer the independent effects of either change (analogous to the case of "substitutive" designs in plant competition studies [61]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, biochar has a high sorption ability [16] that can lead to a reduced availability of nutrients, in particular mineralized N or available P, for plants under certain circumstances [48,71,72]. Thus, when compared to the SMS treatment, the availability of nutrients to the plants in the BC + SMS treatment might have been reduced, leading to the observed reduction in plant growth and physiological performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, recent work by Beesley et al [37] shows promise for BC-compost applications to soils contaminated by metals and arsenic. Multiple studies have been conducted on the effect of BC on soil properties and plant growth together with, or in comparison to compost and/or other fertilizers both in the field [31,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44] and in greenhouses [45][46][47][48][49]. Although many studies report positive effects of a BC-compost mix on soil properties and plant growth, there is a lack of explicit tests for synergistic effects in the literature: we are aware of only a few prior experiments that have utilized a factorial experimental design [43,45,49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The combination of biochar (BC) with compost has been suggested to be a promising strategy to promote plant growth and performance, but although "synergistic" effects have been stated to occur, full-factorial experiments are few, and explicit tests for synergism are lacking. We tested the hypothesis that a combination of BC and spent mushroom substrate (SMS) has a positive synergistic effect on plant growth and physiological performance in a nutrient-limited growing media. A greenhouse experiment with a full factorial design was conducted using mixed-wood BC (3.0 kg·m −2 ) and SMS (1.5 kg·m −2 ) (the combination was not co-composted) as organic soil amendments for the annual Abutilon theophrasti and the perennial Salix purpurea. Several measurements related to plant growth and physiological performance were taken throughout the experiment. Contrary to the hypothesis, we found that the combination of BC + SMS had neutral or antagonistic interactive effects on many plant growth traits. Antagonistic effects were found on maximum leaf area, above-and belowground biomass, reproductive allocation, maximum plant height, chlorophyll fluorescence, and stomatal conductance of A. theophrasti. The effect on S. purpurea was mostly neutral. We conclude that the generalization that BC and compost have synergistic effects on plant performance is not supported.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

et al. 2017

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“…NH 4 + -N of biogas slurry might be adsorbed quickly after the biogas slurry had been applied into sandy soil. This study can provide further evidence that biochars are more favorable for NH 4 + -N control of sandy soil or other relative barren soils [56,57]. Furthermore, when 10% and 20% of rice husk carbon were added, the ANAPs of loamy soil were higher than those of sandy soil.…”

Section: Effects Of Biochars On Different Soils Adsorbingmentioning

confidence: 57%

Effects of Three Biochars as Adsorbents on Soils Adsorbing Ammonium Nitrogen in Biogas Slurry

Wang

et al. 2017

Journal of Chemistry

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The increasing concern of biogas slurry disposal and nitrogen loss in soils has brought back the interest in using biochar as an adsorbent of biogas slurry in soils. Three types of biochars, commercial activated carbon, pyrolysis productions derived from rice husk, and nut shell, were added as adsorbents in two types of soils (sandy and loamy) at solid weight ratio of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% to investigate the effects of biochars on soils adsorbing ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 + -N) in biogas slurry using oscillation method. There was no difference of NH 4 + -N adsorbability for sand soil and loamy soil. The NH 4 + -N adsorption capacity of soils increased as the additive biochars increased from 0 to 20%. The smaller particle size of biochars led to the shorter stable adsorption time and the better NH 4 + -N adsorption capacity. Commercial activated carbon showed the best NH 4 + -N adsorption capacity in biogas slurry, followed by the nut shell carbon. The rice husk carbon was the worst. The results in this study provide a feasible and cost-effective assessment method of biochars for increasing the NH 4 + -N adsorption capacity of soils in biogas slurry, as well as good insight into effects of different biochars on improving NH 4 + -N adsorption capacity of soils.

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“…The interaction between BC and bio-waste was investigated at two major phases of the composting process in a study conducted by Vandecasteele et al (2016). Adding BC amendments either at the start of composting or later prior to compost storage, researchers were able to determine specific impacts to the material compost.…”

Section: Activated Carbon and Biocharmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection, Occurrence and Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Agricultural Environments

Snow¹,

Cassada²,

Larsen³

et al. 2017

Water Environment Research

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A total of 79 papers published in 2016 were reviewed ranging from detailed descriptions of analytical methods, to fate and occurrence studies, to ecological effects and sampling techniques for a wide variety of emerging contaminants likely to occur in agricultural environments. New methods and studies on veterinary pharmaceuticals, steroids, antibiotic resistance genes, cyanotoxins, and potential effects of biochar use in agricultural environments continue to expand our knowledge base on the occurrence and potential impacts of these compounds. This review is divided into the following sections: Introduction, Analytical Methods, Steroid Hormones, Anthelmintics, Antibiotic Fate and Occurrence, Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Cyanotoxins, and Implications of Biochar in Agricultural Environments.

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Biochar amendment before or after composting affects compost quality and N losses, but not P plant uptake

Cited by 160 publications

References 23 publications

Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

Effects of Three Biochars as Adsorbents on Soils Adsorbing Ammonium Nitrogen in Biogas Slurry

Detection, Occurrence and Fate of Emerging Contaminants in Agricultural Environments

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