Biochar affects soil organic matter cycling and microbial functions but does not alter microbial community structure in a paddy soil

Tian, Jing; Wang, Jingyuan; Dippold, Michaela A.; Gao, Yang; Blagodatskaya, Еvgenia; Kuzyakov, Yakov

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.010

Cited by 215 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…In all four trials at 29 farmer sites where conventional NPK fertilization was compared with cold-charged NPK- biochar root zone fertilization, the latter caused significantly higher yields, so that NPK enriched biochar can be considered an optimized NPK fertilization method. That the application of biochar in conjunction with NPK-fertilizer never decreased but rather increased yields compared with conventional NPK fertilization is further confirmed by literature (Sinclaire et al, 2008;Schulz & Glaser, 2012;Joseph et al, 2013;Martinsen et al, 2014;Abiven et al, 2015;Tian et al, 2016). The use of cold NPKenriched biochar in the cabbage trials was therefore considered to be at least equal to conventional fertilization and hence used as the benchmark that has to be matched by the organic biochar based fertilization.…”

Section: Comparison Of Organic and Mineral Biochar-based Fertilizationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Biochar‐Based Fertilization with Liquid Nutrient Enrichment: 21 Field Trials Covering 13 Crop Species in Nepal

Schmidt¹,

Pandit²,

Cornelissen

et al. 2017

Land Degrad Dev

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Biochar produced in cost‐efficient flame curtain kilns (Kon‐Tiki) was nutrient enriched either with cow urine or with dissolved mineral (NPK) fertilizer to produce biochar‐based fertilizers containing between 60–100 kg N, 5–60 kg P2O5 and 60–100 kg K2O, respectively, per ton of biochar. In 21 field trials, nutrient‐enriched biochars were applied at rates of 0·5–2 t ha−1 into the root zone of 13 different crops. Treatments combining biochar, compost and organic or chemical fertilizer were evaluated; control treatments contained same amounts of nutrients but without biochar. All nutrient‐enriched biochar substrates improved yields compared with their respective no‐biochar controls. Biochar enriched with dissolved NPK produced on average 20% ± 5·1% (N = 4 trials) higher yields than standard NPK fertilization without biochar. Cow urine‐enriched biochar blended with compost resulted on average in 123% ± 76·7% (N = 13 trials) higher yields compared with the organic farmer practice with cow urine‐blended compost and outcompeted NPK‐enriched biochar (same nutrient dose) by 103% ± 12·4% (N = 4 trials) respectively. Thus, the results of 21 field trials robustly revealed that low‐dosage root zone application of organic biochar‐based fertilizers caused substantial yield increases in rather fertile silt loam soils compared with traditional organic fertilization and to mineral NPK or NPK‐biochar fertilization. This can be explained by the nutrient carrier effect of biochar, causing a slow nutrient release behaviour, more balanced nutrient fluxes and reduced nutrient losses, especially when liquid organic nutrients are used for the biochar enrichment. The results open up new pathways for optimizing organic farming and improving on‐farm nutrient cycling. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Comparison Of Organic and Mineral Biochar-based Fertilizationmentioning

confidence: 69%

Biochar‐Based Fertilization with Liquid Nutrient Enrichment: 21 Field Trials Covering 13 Crop Species in Nepal

Schmidt¹,

Pandit²,

Cornelissen

et al. 2017

Land Degrad Dev

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“…Tian et al . () observed that microorganisms would start to use N from the SOM to compensate for large C:N ratios after biochar application. However, we added N to alleviate its limitation in soil so that the ‘Mining theory’ could be largely excluded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Negative correlations between biochar mineralization and PE were also observed in soils with Peanut-B and Cane-B (Figure 3b), indicating that interactions between biochar and SOM were more complicated than previously expected and largely dependent on the feedstocks. Tian et al (2016) observed that microorganisms would start to use N from the SOM to compensate for large C:N ratios after biochar application. However, we added N to alleviate its limitation in soil so that the 'Mining theory' could be largely excluded.…”

Section: Biochar Mineralization and Its Induced Soil Pementioning

confidence: 99%

Feedstock determines biochar‐induced soil priming effects by stimulating the activity of specific microorganisms

Chen

Pan

et al. 2018

European J Soil Science

118

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Uncertainty remains over what properties of biochar and which groups of microorganisms are responsible for the direction and magnitude of observed biochar‐induced priming effects (PE). We selected maize straw, grass, peanut shells and sugar cane as feedstocks to produce biochar at 300, 400 and 500°C by slow pyrolysis, and carried out an 80‐day soil–biochar incubation experiment to investigate biochar‐induced soil PE by adopting isotopic techniques. Irrespective of pyrolysis temperature, grass‐derived biochar (Grass‐B) induced the largest PE (348 to 1214 mg C kg−1 soil), whereas peanut shell‐derived biochar (Peanut‐B) induced the smallest (−135 to 261 mg C kg−1 soil) PE. The intensity of PE was largely determined by the feedstock and was closely related to the proportion of cellulose and lignin in it. The bacterial and fungal communities at days 8 and 40 were investigated by high‐throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS genes. Biochar additions explained 54.0 and 52.9% of the total variation in bacterial and fungal community structure, respectively. The bacterial Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were dominant during the initial phase of the PE (at day 8), whereas the fungal Sordariomycetes and Tremellomycetes were abundant after the longer phase of incubation at day 40. A succession from bacterial community (used the available C fraction of biochar) to fungal community (used the recalcitrant C fraction of biochar and soil organic C) might occur during the PE, together with the alternation of apparent PE to real PE. Highlights Feedstock type determines biochar‐induced priming effects (PE). A succession from bacterial to fungal community occurred. Actinobacteria and Firmicutes used biochar available C during the early stage. Sordariomycetes and Tremellomycetes were associated with the later real PE.

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“…Chen et al () demonstrated that 3 year biochar soil amendment reduced the relative abundance of three dominant bacterial phyla related to C cycling, while increasing the abundance of Ascomycota, a key fungal community, and reducing the dependence of soil respiration on temperature. By contrast, a 6 year field experiment conducted by Tian et al () indicated that microbial metabolic activity strongly increased due to biochar amendment, but it did not change microbial community structure in paddy soil. These changes in soil would cause differences in exogenous organic C utilization (organic C sequestration) by microbial organisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

The responses of soil organic carbon mineralization and microbial communities to fresh and aged biochar soil amendments

et al. 2019

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While biochar soil amendment has been widely proposed as a soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration strategy to mitigate detrimental climate changes in global agriculture, the SOC sequestration was still not clearly understood for the different effects of fresh and aged biochar on SOC mineralization. In the present study of a two‐factorial experiment, topsoil samples from a rice paddy were laboratory‐incubated with and without fresh or aged biochar pyrolyzed of wheat residue and with and without crop residue‐derived dissolved organic matter (CRM) for monitoring soil organic matter decomposition under controlled conditions. The six treatments included soil with no biochar, with fresh biochar and with aged biochar treated with CRM, respectively. For fresh biochar treatment, the topsoil of a same rice paddy was amended with wheat biochar directly from a pyrolysis wheat straw, the soil with aged biochar was collected from the same soil 6 years following a single amendment of same biochar. Total CO2 emission from the soil was monitored over a 64 day time span of laboratory incubation, while microbial biomass carbon and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) were determined at the end of incubation period. Without CRM, total organic carbon mineralization was significantly decreased by 38.8% with aged biochar but increased by 28.9% with fresh biochar, compared to no biochar. With CRM, however, the significantly highest net carbon mineralization occurred in the soil without biochar compared to the biochar‐amended soil. Compared to aged biochar, fresh biochar addition significantly increased the total PLFA concentration by 20.3%–33.8% and altered the microbial community structure by increasing 17:1ω8c (Gram‐negative bacteria) and i17:0 (Gram‐positive bacteria) mole percentages and by decreasing the ratio of fungi/bacteria. Furthermore, biochar amendment significantly lowered the metabolic quotient of SOC decomposition, thereby becoming greater with aged biochar than with fresh biochar. The finding here suggests that biochar amendment could improve carbon utilization efficiency by soil microbial community and SOC sequestration potential in paddy soil can be enhanced by the presence of biochar in soil over the long run.

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Biochar affects soil organic matter cycling and microbial functions but does not alter microbial community structure in a paddy soil

Cited by 215 publications

References 58 publications

Biochar‐Based Fertilization with Liquid Nutrient Enrichment: 21 Field Trials Covering 13 Crop Species in Nepal

Biochar‐Based Fertilization with Liquid Nutrient Enrichment: 21 Field Trials Covering 13 Crop Species in Nepal

Feedstock determines biochar‐induced soil priming effects by stimulating the activity of specific microorganisms

The responses of soil organic carbon mineralization and microbial communities to fresh and aged biochar soil amendments

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