Effects of biochar on water retention and matric suction of vegetated soil

Ni, Junjun; Chen, Xun Wen; Ng, Charles Wang Wai; Guo, Haowen

doi:10.1680/jgele.17.00180

Cited by 57 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The saturated water content of BAS was 15% higher than NS (refer to Table 3). A similar trend was found in previous experimental reports (Garg et al, 2019; Ni, Chen, Ng, & Guo, 2018), even though the results obtained in this study are slightly higher than previous findings. The higher values in this study may be due to the embedded effect caused by the particle size distribution of clay (Wong, Chen, Chen, Ng, & Wong, 2017) and the different types of biochar.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Experimental study on the hydrological performance of green roofs in the application of novel biochar

Huang

Garg

Mei

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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Biochar has the potential to be a soil amendment in green roofs owing to its water retention, nutrient supply, and carbon sequestration application. The combined effects of biochar and vegetated soil on hydraulic performance (e.g., saturated hydraulic conductivity, retention and detention, and runoff delay) are the crucial factor for the application of the novel biochar in green roofs. Recent studies investigated soil water potential (i.e., suction) either on vegetated soil or on biochar-amended soil but rarely focused on their integrated application. With the purpose of investigating the hydraulic performance of green roofs in the application of biochar, the combined effect of biochar and vegetated soil on hydrological processes was explored. Artificial rainfall experiments were conducted on the four types of experimental soil columns, including natural soil, biochar-amended soil, vegetated natural soil, and vegetated biocharamended soil. The surface ponding, bottom drainage and the volumetric water content were measured during the rainfall test. Simulation method by using HYDRUS-1D was adopted for estimating hydraulic parameters and developing modelling analysis. The results indicated that the saturated hydraulic conductivity of vegetated soil columns were higher than bare soil columns. The addition of biochar decreased the saturated hydraulic conductivity, and the magnitude of decrease was much significant in the case of vegetated soil. The influence of vegetation on permeability is more prominent than biochar. The vegetated biochar-amended soil has the highest retention and detention capacity, and shows a preferable runoff delay effect under heavy rain among the four soil columns. The results from the present study help to understand the hydrological processes in the green roof in the application of biochar, and imply that biochar can be an alternative soil amendment to improve the hydraulic performance.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Experimental study on the hydrological performance of green roofs in the application of novel biochar

Huang

Garg

Mei

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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“…Moreover, the presence of water-absorbing surface functional groups or bond in biochar holds the water inside of these pores especially in intrapores, i.e., the pores provide only spaces for storage and the functional group holds water in it. The trend of increased water retention in biochar-amended soil was reported by the previous researchers (Bordoloi et al 2018b;Ni et al 2018).…”

Section: Effect Of Biochar On Swrcsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Previous studies reported that the amendment of biochar in soil increased the Atterberg limits and the optimum moisture content (OMC) and decreased the maximum dry density (MDD) (Yaghoubi and Reddy 2011;Ni et al 2018;Williams et al 2018). It was also found that the saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased in sandy soil while increased in clayey soil when biochar was amended (Uzoma et al 2011;Igalavithana et al 2017;Wong et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have been extensively studied for loose soil suitable for agriculture (Major et al 2012;Ouyang et al 2013;de-Melo-Carvalho et al 2014;Prober et al 2014;Moragues-Saitua et al 2017;Chen et al 2019). However, limited studies are available for soil in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering structures, e.g., landfill cover (Wong et al 2017), bioengineered slopes and embankment (Bordoloi et al 2018b;Ni et al 2018) where soils often compacted, have higher design life and generate higher suction due to drying (Wall and Zeiss 1995;Harshani et al 2015). Wong et al (2017) reported an increased water retention of kaolin clay after amendment of peanut shell biochar.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of biochar type on infiltration, water retention and desiccation crack potential of a silty sand

Hussain

Bordoloi

Gupta

et al. 2020

Biochar

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Biochar is a carbon-rich material obtained after thermochemical conversion of biomass under no oxygen environment. The effect of biochar amendment on soil properties, such as water retention, infiltration and desiccation crack potential was studied in the recent years. However, the effect of biochar or feedstock type on these properties is not explicit. This study investigates the effect of two different (in terms of feedstock) types of biochar on the water retention, infiltration and desiccation cracking behavior of compacted silty sand. Water retention characteristics, infiltration rate and the progression of desiccation cracks were measured after compacting soil amended with 5-10% (w/w) biochar produced from water hyacinth (WHB) and mesquite. Measurements were also taken for an unpyrolyzed material coir pith (CP, sourced from coconut husk)-amended soil for comparing the results of biochar-amended soil. The results show that the amendment of 5% to 10% biochar increased the maximum water holding capacity (θ s), air entry value (AEV) and water content at 1500 kPa (θ 1500) of the soil, whereas decreased the infiltration rate and peak crack intensity factor (CIF) of the soil. Moreover, the application of CP increased the infiltration rate. The amendment of WHB showed the highest increment in AEV and θ 1500 and the highest decrement in infiltration rate and CIF compared to the other amendments. Based on the results, it is advisable to use the WHB-amended soil in bioengineered structures that could promote the growth of vegetation by higher water retention and could reduce the potential of leachate formation by decreasing water infiltration and desiccation crack potential.

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“…Therefore, biochar can promote feeding root development, which is consistent with our observation. The reduced diameter of roots can be explained by more root occupancy of soil pore space [63]. The largest root length and the highest number of root tips, forks, and crossings were found at 15% biochar amendment.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Root Architecturementioning

confidence: 97%

Biochar improves soil physical characteristics and strengthens root architecture in Muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia L.)

Chang

Rossi

Zotarelli

et al. 2021

Chem. Biol. Technol. Agric.

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Background Biochar is widely assumed as an effective soil amendment. It improves soil structure and fertility, thereby enhancing crop growth and development. There is still a knowledge gap in research on the beneficial impact of biochar on root growth and root architecture in perennial woody plants. Therefore, in our 14-week greenhouse study, pinewood-based biochar was applied as soil amendment for muscadine grape cultivation to investigate its effects on soil physical properties and crop root growth. Muscadine grape cv. Alachua was grown on Ultisols soil mixed with five rates of biochar on weight basis. Soil mixture properties and root attributes were determined. Results The soil bulk density decreased 40% and the total porosity increased 50% by adding 20% biochar into pure sandy soil. The soil water-holding capacity (WHC) of 20% biochar amendment soil was 1.9 times as pure as sandy soil. In addition, the incorporation of biochar did not only ameliorate soil acidity at the beginning but also increased soil pH buffering capacity, providing suitable soil pH a few months after application. Moreover, biochar induced woody plant finer roots development and significantly promoted root length, number of root forks, and crossings, while decreasing root average diameter. Conclusions Pinewood biochar significantly improved soil physical properties by moderating soil thermal properties, buffering soil pH, improving soil WHC, decreasing soil bulk density, and increasing soil porosity. In addition, biochar also strengthened the root architecture by improving root length, number of root forks, and crossings. Furthermore, roots from the amended treatment had longer root length with less average diameter than unamended roots, indicating that biochar may stimulate muscadine fine root development. The incorporation of biochar in soil enhanced woody plant root growth and development improved soil structure in sandy soils. It could potentially be a good strategy to tackle water loss, particularly in sandy soils.

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Effects of biochar on water retention and matric suction of vegetated soil

Cited by 57 publications

References 37 publications

Experimental study on the hydrological performance of green roofs in the application of novel biochar

Experimental study on the hydrological performance of green roofs in the application of novel biochar

Effect of biochar type on infiltration, water retention and desiccation crack potential of a silty sand

Biochar improves soil physical characteristics and strengthens root architecture in Muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia L.)

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