Biochar as a means to improve soil fertility and crop productivity: a review

Kapoor, A.; Sharma, Rohit; Sepehya, Swapana

doi:10.1080/01904167.2022.2027980

Cited by 46 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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Section: Core Ideasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, negative emissions in agroecosystems can be achieved by reducing the strength of GHG emissions (sources) and enhancing soil C pools (sink) (Lal, 2021). Biochar has been proposed as a soil amendment, with potential for not only increasing crop yield (Bai et al., 2022; Farhangi‐Abriz et al., 2021) due to improvement in soil physicochemical and biological properties (Egamberdieva et al., 2022; Kapoor et al., 2022) but also for reducing GHG emissions from agroecosystems. Overall, the climate change mitigation benefits of biochar stem from: (1) increased retention of C input through evolution of condensed aromatic structures that are highly stable and resistant to decomposition (Chagas et al., 2022; Gross et al., 2021) and (2) reduced GHG emissions (Gross et al., 2022; Shakoor, Arif, et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to evolving understanding of the diverse benefits of biochar and resulting increase in interest, extensive reviews and meta‐analyses have been published, especially on crop growth and yield (Bai et al., 2022; Dai et al., 2020), soil health (Farhangi‐Abriz et al., 2021; Kapoor et al., 2022), waste management and environmental remediation (Liu et al., 2022; Sun et al., 2021), and climate change mitigation (Lehmann et al., 2021; Shakoor, Arif, et al., 2021) (Figure 4). There has been a wealth of biochar‐related studies conducted under laboratory, greenhouse, mesocosm, and field conditions, and available reviews have reflected the nature of these past studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biochar as a negative emission technology: A synthesis of field research on greenhouse gas emissions

et al. 2023

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Biochar is one of the few nature‐based technologies with potential to help achieve net‐zero emissions agriculture. Such an outcome would involve the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from agroecosystems and optimization of soil organic carbon sequestration. Interest in biochar application is heightened by its several co‐benefits. Several reviews summarized past investigations on biochar, but these reviews mostly included laboratory, greenhouse, and mesocosm experiments. A synthesis of field studies is lacking, especially from a climate change mitigation standpoint. Our objectives are to (1) synthesize advances in field‐based studies that have examined the GHG mitigation capacity of soil application of biochar and (2) identify limitations of the technology and research priorities. Field studies, published before 2022, were reviewed. Biochar has variable effects on GHG emissions, ranging from decrease, increase, to no change. Across studies, biochar reduced emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) by 18% and methane (CH4) by 3% but increased carbon dioxide (CO2) by 1.9%. When biochar was combined with N‐fertilizer, it reduced CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions in 61%, 64%, and 84% of the observations, and biochar plus other amendments reduced emissions in 78%, 92%, and 85% of the observations, respectively. Biochar has shown potential to reduce GHG emissions from soils, but long‐term studies are needed to address discrepancies in emissions and identify best practices (rate, depth, and frequency) of biochar application to agricultural soils.

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Section: Core Ideasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biochar as a negative emission technology: A synthesis of field research on greenhouse gas emissions

et al. 2023

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“…Biochar is prepared from organic materials through a pyrolysis process (250–700°C; Rajakumar and Sankar, 2016 ), and it has various unique and special properties that make it an efficient, environment-friendly, and economical source of soil conditioner ( Oliveira et al., 2017 ). Biochar is a porous and fine-grained material, and it has a similar appearance to charcoal; however, the only difference between the two is their utilitarian intention ( Kapoor et al., 2022 ). The characteristics of BC depend on feedstock and pyrolysis conditions ( Bird, 2015 ; Agegnehu et al., 2017 ).…”

Section: Why Biochar Is An Important Amendmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The critical role of biochar to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought and salinity stress in plants

Wu¹,

Wang²,

Zhang³

et al. 2023

Front. Plant Sci.

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Drought stress (DS) is a potential abiotic stress that is substantially reducing crop productivity across the globe. Likewise, salinity stress (SS) is another serious abiotic stress that is also a major threat to global crop productivity. The rapid climate change increased the intensity of both stresses which pose a serious threat to global food security; therefore, it is urgently needed to tackle both stresses to ensure better crop production. Globally, different measures are being used to improve crop productivity under stress conditions. Among these measures, biochar (BC) has been widely used to improve soil health and promote crop yield under stress conditions. The application of BC improves soil organic matter, soil structure, soil aggregate stability, water and nutrient holding capacity, and the activity of both beneficial microbes and fungi, which leads to an appreciable increase in tolerance to both damaging and abiotic stresses. BC biochar protects membrane stability, improves water uptake, maintains nutrient homeostasis, and reduces reactive oxygen species production (ROS) through enhanced antioxidant activities, thereby substantially improving tolerance to both stresses. Moreover, BC-mediated improvements in soil properties also substantially improve photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll synthesis, gene expression, the activity of stress-responsive proteins, and maintain the osmolytes and hormonal balance, which in turn improve tolerance against osmotic and ionic stresses. In conclusion, BC could be a promising amendment to bring tolerance against both drought and salinity stresses. Therefore, in the present review, we have discussed various mechanisms through which BC improves drought and salt tolerance. This review will help readers to learn more about the role of biochar in causing drought and salinity stress in plants, and it will also provide new suggestions on how this current knowledge about biochar can be used to develop drought and salinity tolerance.

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“…The application of biochars can help to protect water resources by adsorbing potential contaminants [18][19][20][21][22] and by reducing nutrient leaching [2]. Therefore, the use of biochar as a soil amendment is an innovative and highly promising practice for sustainable agriculture [14,23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Combined Application of Solid Pyrolysis Products and Digestate on Selected Soil Properties of Arenosol and Plant Growth and Composition in Laboratory Experiments

Gulyás

Someus²,

Klátyik

et al. 2022

Agronomy

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Biochars as soil amendments have been reported to improve soil properties and may have an important role in the mitigation of the consequences of climate change. As a novel approach, this study examines whether biochar and digestate co-application can be utilized as cost-effective, renewable plant nutrients. The effects of two types of biochar—wood chip biochar (WBC) and animal bone biochar (ABC), applied alone or in combination with an anaerobic digestate—on soil physicochemical properties, on the levels of selected elements, and on growth yields of ryegrass were studied in laboratory experiments. Most parameters were significantly affected by the treatments, and the investigated factors (biochar type, application rate, and the presence of digestate), as well as their interactions, were found to have significant effects on the characteristics investigated. The easily soluble phosphorus content (AL-P2O5) of the soil increased in all WBC and ABC biochar treatments, and the presence of digestate caused a further increase in AL-P2O5 in the case of anaerobic digestate-supplemented ABC treatment (ABCxAD). The pH increased in both ABC and WBC treatments, and also in the case of ABCxAD treatments. Similar increases in the salt content were detected in ABC-treated samples and in ABCxAD treatments at higher application rates. WBC increased the water holding capacity and carbon content of the soil. Phytotoxic effects of biochars were not detected, although higher doses resulted in slower germination. Combined biochar–digestate applications resulted in increased plant yields compared to sole biochar treatments. Thus, biochar–digestate combinations appear to be applicable as organo-mineral fertilizers.

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Biochar as a means to improve soil fertility and crop productivity: a review

Cited by 46 publications

References 27 publications

Biochar as a negative emission technology: A synthesis of field research on greenhouse gas emissions

Biochar as a negative emission technology: A synthesis of field research on greenhouse gas emissions

The critical role of biochar to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought and salinity stress in plants

Effects of Combined Application of Solid Pyrolysis Products and Digestate on Selected Soil Properties of Arenosol and Plant Growth and Composition in Laboratory Experiments

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