Effect of Biochar on Soil Respiration from a Semi-evergreen, Moist Deciduous Forest Soil

Abstract

Mineralization of soil organic carbon has a significant impact on the atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Application of organic amendments can affect the dynamics of carbon present in soil through the process of mineralization and immobilization. This study assessed the efficiency of biochar on soil carbon mineralization through respiration and the priming effect (positive or negative) after addition of the external carbon biomass in a controlled incubation experiment (90 days) at two different temperature regimes viz. 15 °C and 30 °C. A decrease in total CO 2 respired was found with the addition of biochar in the soil where 6 t ha −1 of biochar treatment (T 7 ) produced the lowest amount of CO 2 for both the temperature regimes. The calculated half-life (t 1/2 ) and rate constant (k) showed resistivity towards mineralization with increasing doses of biochar. Significantly negative priming effects were observed with addition of biochar in comparison to the control treatment at the end of the incubation period.

Special Issue on “Materials and Processes for Ground Engineering Infrastructure”

“…The topics of this special issue cover various aspects, including laboratory testing and evaluation of material properties, field monitoring of ground improvement practices, data processing techniques, theoretical and numerical modelling, and supporting technologies and methodologies in ground engineering infrastructure. This special issue contains several papers dealing with the usage of new materials ranging from fibres to powderbased materials (waste marble, eggshell, flyash, and biochar) and pre-fabricated drains from different perspectives (freeze-thaw, dry-wet resistance, dynamic shear, compressive and tensile loading as well as gas flow) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Coir and hemp fibres along with fly ash based alkaline binders are found to have profound effect on geotechnical properties of soils, such as tensile strength under the condition of freeze-thaw cycles [1].…”

“…Another popular powder form sustainable material, that has been explored for landfill covers recently is "biochar" [5,9,10]. Biochar, as a carbon-based material, has been used extensively in the past few decades for enhancing crop productivity and soil fertility [9]. However, its usage in geotechnical engineering is limited.…”

“…This finding is useful for engineers to narrow down the selection of appropriate biochar for usage in cover material in landfill. Based on field study in semievergreen and moist deciduous forest in north-eastern part of India, it is found that CO 2 emission is reduced significantly upon addition of biochar [9]. Though, biochar is beneficial for enhancing the hydraulic properties, its effect on mechanical strength needs further investigation.…”