Animal-manure biochar used as a sustainable amendment to garden soil has been widely applied, and the animal-manure pyrolysis temperatures would also have a regulatory effect on soil functions because of their affections on biochar physio-chemical properties. Here we studied the effects of different dosages of swine-manure biochar on tea garden soil functions, with the swine-manure pyrolysis temperature differed at 350 and 500°C. The results showed that the improvement of soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and enzyme activities was closely related to the addition of 0.5–2% (biochar wt/soil wt) swine-manure biochar. Under different conditions of different carbon application rates and carbon type, the addition of 2% swine-manure biochar pyrolyzed at 350°C showed the best effects on soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents. Compared to the control, after the addition of 2% swine-manure biochar, sucrase, phosphatase, catalase, and urease activities increased by 63.3, 23.2, 50.3, and 27.9%, respectively. Microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen contents also increased by 36.4 and 34.3%, respectively. Our study indicated that the effectiveness of using animal-manure swine-manure biochar as a sustainable amendment to soil would provide evidence of tea garden soil improvement and the environmental response to the usage of biochars.
Biochar, a late-model environmental functional material, has been widely applied in environmental remediation, agricultural production, and energy utilization due to its excellent characteristics such as porosity and high specific surface area. In recent years, many studies on the effects of biochar on agricultural soil and crop quality have been performed. The application of biochar can influence soil microbial status directly or indirectly by changing the physicochemical properties of soil. Apart from increasing soil pH, biochar can also increase soil organic matter and nutrient elements, which ultimately affect crop yield and quality. This review summarizes and overviews the recent research advances on the influence of biochar application on soil microbial community diversity, microbial ecological functions, soil enzymes and their functional genes, and on crop quality and yield from the perspective of soil microorganisms. This review provides guidance and references for further research into biochar applications.
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