Improving agricultural water use efficiency with biochar – A synthesis of biochar effects on water storage and fluxes across scales

Fischer, Benjamin; Manzoni, Stefano; Morillas, Laura; García, Mónica; Johnson, Mark S.; Lyon, Steve W.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.312

Cited by 104 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Biochar application to low fertility or pollutant soils as a promising approach to improve soil quality and thus enhance crop yield has been well reported in previous studies [30,31,32,49]. Actually, biochar application in eld could enhance crop yield mainly ascribed to the regulation in soil pH [50], increase soil C storage [51], and retain soil water and nutrient [52]. In the present study, biochar addition signi cantly enhanced shoot biomass, root biomass and grain yield.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Biochar addition alleviate the negative effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Zhang

Ding

Wang

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Environmental stress is a crucial factor restricting plant growth as well as crop productivity, thus influencing the agricultural sustainability. Biochar addition is proposed as an effective management to improve crop performance. However, there were few studies focused on the effect of biochar addition on crop growth and productivity under interactive effect of abiotic stress (e.g., drought and salinity). This study was conducted with a pot experiment to investigate the interaction effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean yield, leaf gaseous exchange and water use efficiency (WUE) under biochar addition. Results: Drought and salinity stress significantly depressed soybean phenology (e.g. flowering time) and all the leaf gas exchange parameters, but had inconsistent effects on soybean root growth and WUE at leaf and yield levels. Salinity stress significantly decreased photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration and transpiration rate by 20.7%, 26.3%, 10.5% and 27.2%, respectively. Lower biomass production and grain yield were probably due to the restrained photosynthesis under drought and salinity stress. Biochar addition significantly enhanced soybean grain yield by 3.1-14.8%. Drought stress and biochar addition significantly increased WUE-yield by 27.5% and 15.6%, respectively, while salinity stress significantly decreased WUE-yield by 24.2%. Drought and salinity stress showed some negative interactions on soybean productivity and leaf gaseous exchange. But biochar addition alleviate the negative effects on soybean productivity and water use efficiency under drought and salinity stress. Conclusions: The results of the present study indicated that drought and salinity stress could significantly depress soybean growth and productivity. There exist interactive effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency, while we could employ biochar to alleviate the negative effects. We should consider the interactive effects of different abiotic restriction factors on crop growth thus for sustainable agriculture in the future.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Biochar addition alleviate the negative effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Zhang

Ding

Wang

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Water is the key factor influencing agricultural production; however, the balance between water demand and supply to the agriculture sector is expected to be disturbed in the changing climate scenario (Rosegrant and Cai 2002;Fischer et al 2019), particularly in tropical countries (Ray et al 2013). In addition, declining soil fertility caused by injudicious application of chemical fertilizers is also a major concern for the agricultural systems, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world (Rockström et al 2010;Ray et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, increased GHGs emission remains a major concern for the sole organic manure amended systems (Searchinger et al 2018;Singh et al 2018). Thus, to address the multifaceted challenges of soil quality deterioration, GHGs emission, water supply and demand balance, waste management, and improving crop WP, application of biochar has been considered as a promising instrument (Lehmann and Joseph 2009;Singh et al 2015;Chen et al 2019;Fischer et al 2019). The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) defined biochar as "a solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment" (IBI 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of sole and combined application of biochar, organic and chemical fertilizers on wheat crop yield and water productivity in a dry tropical agro-ecosystem

Singh

et al. 2019

Biochar

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Agriculture under changing climate scenario is facing major challenges of water scarcity and resource imbalances. Crop water productivity (WP) may act as an indicator of crop responses to water limitation. Organic amendments such as biochar and manure application to soil are suggested for improving soil quality and reducing water requirements from agricultural sector. However, studies exploring the impact of biochar as sole or in combination with organic and/or chemical fertilizers on WP in dry tropical agro-ecosystems are limited. In this study, we observed the effect of rice-husk ash (RHA, biochar) along with farmyard manure (FYM) and chemical fertilizers (CF) under varying water conditions on soil hydro-physical properties, yield and WP of wheat crop. Water-filled pore space (WFPS), grain and straw yield, irrigation and total water productivity varied significantly (at P < 0.001) at treatment level. Grain and straw yield were found higher under sole and combined CF applied treatments. Sole and combined RHA and FYM amendment improved water holding capacity (WHC) and WFPS, whereas a decrease in crop yield was observed as compared to the control. Irrigation and total water productivity were found higher under combined RHA + FYM and sole CF treatments with reduced water supply (except sole CF) as compared to control and sole RHA treatments with full water irrigation. Crop water productivity was found positively correlated with grain and straw yields, however, significant correlations were not observed with WHC and WFPS. Results indicate that increasing soil hydro-physical properties in silty-loam soil may hinder crop yield and WP under sole biochar applied soils. Overall, the implications of the study would help in devising agro-management practices based on combined application of RHA and FYM with reduced chemical fertilizer and water inputs to mitigate the impacts of climate change without compromising crop yield in the highly vulnerable dry tropical agro-ecosystem of India. Moreover, long-term studies are needed in these ecosystems to identify the appropriate agricultural package for mitigating the forthcoming water scarcity conditions.

show abstract

“…Water scarcity has become one of the ambient factor affecting land sustainability, especially in the Mediterranean region Zehnder, 2002 andIglesias et al, 2007). Amending such arid soils with biochar can probably retain soil moisture (Fischer et al, 2019 andGünal et al, 2018); accordingly, biochar improves water use efficiencies (Fischer et al, 2019). Moreover, available soil moisture can determine the stabilization of SOM and its potentiality probably exceeds the effect of clay particles (Rasmussen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of biochar in managing the irrigation water requirements of maize plants: the pyramid model signifying the soil hydro-physical and environmental markers

Bassouny

Abbas

2019

Egypt.J. Soil Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Improving agricultural water use efficiency with biochar – A synthesis of biochar effects on water storage and fluxes across scales

Cited by 104 publications

References 81 publications

Biochar addition alleviate the negative effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Biochar addition alleviate the negative effects of drought and salinity stress on soybean productivity and water use efficiency

Impact of sole and combined application of biochar, organic and chemical fertilizers on wheat crop yield and water productivity in a dry tropical agro-ecosystem

Role of biochar in managing the irrigation water requirements of maize plants: the pyramid model signifying the soil hydro-physical and environmental markers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About