Impact of biochar properties on soil conditions and agricultural sustainability: A review

Abstract

This review summarizes the influences of pyrolysis conditions and feedstock types on biochar properties and how biochar properties in turn affect soil properties. Mechanistic evidence of biochar's potential for enhancing crop productivity, carbon sequestration, and nutrient use efficiency are also discussed. The review identifies the knowledge gaps, limitations, and future research directions for large‐scale use of biochar. Both pyrolytic parameters and feedstock types are considered to be the main factors controlling biochar properties such as nutrient content, recalcitrance, and pH. Biochar produced at low temperatures may improve nutrient availability and crop yield in acidic and alkaline soils, whereas high‐temperature biochar may enhance long‐term soil carbon sequestration. Biochar can also improve the efficiency of inorganic and organic fertilizers by enhancing microbial functions and reducing nutrient loss, thereby making nutrients more available to plants. Integration of biochar and chemical or organic fertilizers generally provides for better nutrient management and crop yield in most types of soils. Although biochar can improve degraded soils, it is not a panacea; as such, soil‐ and crop‐specific biochar are needed in order to ensure optimum crop yield and agricultural sustainability.

Effect of Biochar and Irrigation on Soybean-Rhizobium Symbiotic Performance and Soil Enzymatic Activity in Field Rhizosphere

“…This study observed that the application of biochar to soil slightly increased soybean shoot biomass and grain yield, but the effect was not significant. In several recent studies, it has also been reported that biochar had no significant effect on plant growth or yield [44][45][46][47]. Joseph et al reported that the interaction of biochar with environmental conditions is important to determine the contrasting effects of biochar on plant growth [48].…”

Exploring soil amendment strategies with polyacrylamide to improve soil health and oat productivity in a dryland farming ecosystem: One‐time versus repeated annual application

“…Water saving and ecological restoration are two strategies to adapt crop production to adverse conditions (Al‐Wabel et al, ; Huang et al, ). Water saving includes a variety of management strategies that reduce the use or enhance the water use efficiency under drought stress (Blum, ).…”

“…However, there is a lack of information on soil enzyme activities and consequently nutrient availability in the deeper (>20‐cm) soil layers and the cumulative effect of repeated annual applications of PAM. Some recent studies reported the response of soil microbiological properties as affected by agronomic management practices such as biochar application (Al‐Wabel et al, ) and tillage systems (Hsiao, Sassenrath, Zeglin, Hettiarachchi, & Rice, ). Soil enzyme activity has been cited as a potential bio‐indicator of soil microbiological activity due to its highly sensitive response to temporal variations of soil health (Gil‐Sotres, Trasar‐Cepeda, Leirós, & Seoane, ; Li et al, ; Schloter, Dilly, & Munch, ).…”

Ideas and perspectives: Synergies from co-deployment of negative emission technologies

“…The latter is called retention capacity and is important to store nutrients in a plant-available form. It has been shown that the weathering of basaltic material increases the cation exchange capacity, leading to an increased retention of nutrients (Anda et al, 2013(Anda et al, , 2015. This is especially important for areas in which nutrients from industrial fertilizer material are quickly washed out, e.g., from the deeply weathered soils (e.g., Oxisols) in tropical regions (Leonardos et al, 1987;Ciceri et al, 2017).…”

“…This may render dryer regions or areas with unfavorable soil physical properties (Basso et al, 2013) usable for bioenergy plants and/or afforestation. There are also indications that improvement of soil hydrology by biochar may increase yield potentials (Akhtar et al, 2014;Xu et al, 2015;Al-Wabel et al, 2018).…”