Can a single dose of biochar affect selected soil physical and chemical characteristics?

Abstract

During the last decade, biochar has captured the attention of agriculturalists worldwide due to its positive effect on the environment. To verify the biochar effects on organic carbon content, soil sorption, and soil physical properties under the mild climate of Central Europe, we established a field experiment. This was carried out on a silty loam Haplic Luvisol at the Malanta experimental site of the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra with five treatments: Control (biochar 0 t ha−1, nitrogen 0 kg ha−1); B10 (biochar 10 t ha−1, nitrogen 0 kg ha−1); B20 (biochar 20 t ha−1, nitrogen 0 kg ha−1); B10+N (biochar 10 t ha−1, nitrogen 160 kg ha−1) and B20+N (biochar 20 t ha−1, nitrogen 160 kg ha−1). Applied biochar increased total and available soil water content in all fertilized treatments. Based on the results from the spring soil sampling (porosity and water retention curves), we found a statistically significant increase in the soil water content for all fertilized treatments. Furthermore, biochar (with or without N fertilization) significantly decreased hydrolytic acidity and increased total organic carbon. After biochar amendment, the soil sorption complex became fully saturated mainly by the basic cations. Statistically significant linear relationships were observed between the porosity and (A) sum of base cations, (B) cation exchange capacity, (C) base saturation.

Biochar: An Important Component Ameliorating the Productivity of Intensively Used Soils

“…A range of findings from this experiment, some of which are of interim nature as the experiment is still ongoing, has been published in domestic and international scientific journals and presented at domestic and international scientific events. Our results to date clearly confirm the positive effect of biochar application on soil organic content (SOC) shortly after application [31][32][33][34], which was still detectable 3 years into the experiment [35,36]. The most beneficial effect on SOC was found after the application of 20 t ha -1 of biochar.…”

“…The content of water-stable macro-aggregates has increased the most in the soil with 20 t ha -1 of biochar and the higher rate of N, which also resulted in higher aggregate stability and better ability of the soil to withstand crusting [32,33,36,38]. Improved soil structure stability has contributed to the improvement of other physical and hydro-physical soil properties and resulted in decreased soil bulk density, increased soil water content and higher soil water retention capacity [34,43,44].…”

Analysis of Non-Rainfall Periods and Their Impacts on the Soil Water Regime

“…The model 'GLOBAL' is a mathematical model to enable simulating water movement in soil and calculating the distribution of soil moisture potential, i.e. soil moisture in real time [7][8][9][10][11][12]. The model is based on the numerical solution of a nonlinear partial differential Richards' equation describing water movement in aerated soil zone, which is as follows:…”

Measurement of Volumetric Water Content by Gravimetric and Time Domain Reflectometry Methods at Field Experiment with Biochar and N Fertilizer

“…Several variants of the field experiment at the locality Dolná Malanta in Nitra region of Slovakia with different doses of biochar and N fertilisers to examine the effect of biochar application on greenhouse gas emissions (Horák et al, 2017), soil water regime (Igaz, Horák and Domanová, 2015) other soil properties (Igaz et al, 2018;Juriga et al, 2018) and crop yields (Kondrlová et al, 2017;Kondrlová, Horák and Igaz, 2018) were established in the experimental area in March 2014. Biochar for this field experiment was produced from the mixture of paper fibre and cereal husks by pyrolysis at 550 °C for 30 min and applied into the top layer of soil (0-10 cm).…”

“…Biochar for this field experiment was produced from the mixture of paper fibre and cereal husks by pyrolysis at 550 °C for 30 min and applied into the top layer of soil (0-10 cm). According to Igaz et al (2018) the altitude of the site is 175 m, the soil is classified as Haplic Luvisol and the topsoil contains 249 g.kg -1 of clay, 599 g.kg -1 of silt and 152 g.kg -1 of sand, giving it a silt loam texture. The area of interest was used for agricultural production and research purposes and the whole site was sown by maize (Zea mays L.) during the sampling in 2017.…”