Effect of biochar application on mineral and microbial properties of soils growing different plant species

Abstract

Biochar is widely used as a soil amendment to increase crop yields. However, the details of its impact on soil properties have not been fully understood. A pot experiment was conducted using soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Toyoharuka) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench cv. Hybrid Sorgo) under four soil treatment combinations (cattle farmyard manure with or without biochar and rapeseed cake with or without biochar) to elucidate the mechanisms of its beneficial effects on plant growth in terms of the microbial community structure and mineral availability in soils with different types of organic manure application. The application of biochar significantly increased the growth of both species, particularly sorghum with rapeseed cake application by 1.48 times higher than that without biochar. Microbial activity in soil was also enhanced by biochar application in both species with rapeseed cake application, particularly in sorghum. Principal component analysis using Biolog EcoPlate (TM) data indicated that biochar application changed the microbial community structure in soil, particularly sorghum-grown soil. The changes in microbial community structure in sorghum were considered to be at least partly affected by changes in soil pH due to interaction between plant and biochar under organic manure application. Biochar application had little effect on the profile of ammonium-acetate-extractable mineral elements in soil including calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium and sulfur with both types of manure application under soybean. Under sorghum, however, biochar with rapeseed cake manure application altered the profile. This alteration is attributable to an increase in the extractable concentration of certain metals in the soil including aluminum, cadmium and zinc, possibly caused by enhanced organic matter decomposition producing metal-chelating organic compounds. These different changes in the soil properties by biochar application may be directly or indirectly related to the different growth responses of different plant species to biochar application under organic manure application

The effect of ameliorants on improvement of soil fertility in post gold mining land at West Kalimantan

“…According to Novak et al (2010), biochar addition increases retention of water containing N, P, and K nutrients that can be absorbed by plants. The results of the study of Hairani et al (2016), biochar application of 35 t/ha was able to increase the yield of sorghum 1.48 times higher than without biochar. Once of good substance for making biochar is banana peel because it is an ordinary biological waste with a high content of cellulose and minerals (Zhou et al, 2017).…”

Enhancement of maize plant growth with inoculation of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and biochar amendment in soil

“…As a new area of research, biological and chemical effects on the P release from biochar still need further investigation (He et al 2014). Biochar production and its application as soil amendment achieved promising results for crop production (Dickinson et al 2015;Ortas 2016;Changxun et al 2016), soil quality improvement (Fang et al 2016), biochemical property enhancement to facilitate soil biota (Puga et al 2015;Hairani et al 2016), mitigation of climate change effects in a long run (Smith 2016), and disposal of large-scale waste biomass (Jeffery et al 2015). Conventional scheme of using agricultural waste as a soil amendment in the recycling of fixed P is supposed to be less effective than biochar-routed P cycling (Dai et al 2016).…”

Evaluación de los efectos de la aplicación de biochar como enmienda orgánica en un cultivo de sorgo (Sorghum bicolor L.) bajo condiciones de invernadero

“…En este sentido, cabe destacar que en la mayoría de la bibliografía consultada (se citan sólo algunos ejemplos en este texto) [20,21,22] los efectos del biochar sobre el desarrollo del cultivo de sorgo o especies de crecimiento similar como el maíz, y sobre las propiedades del suelo se han visto reflejados en ensayos de mucha menor duración. Además, en el caso concreto de este estudio, por tratarse de un cultivo con capacidad de rebrote, las raíces del mismo han estado un tiempo más largo en contacto con la enmienda en el suelo, lo que resalta la necesidad de profundizar en las diferencias que pueden existir entre los espacios de tiempo a los que se somete a contacto con el biochar a determinados cultivos.…”