Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

Seehausen, M. Lukas; Gale, Nigel V.; Dranga, Stefana; Hudson, Virginia; Liu, Norman; Michener, Jane; Thurston, Emma; Williams, Charlene; Smith, Sandy M.; Thomas, Sean C.

doi:10.3390/agronomy7010013

Cited by 58 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 79 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…Recent work demonstrated substantially increased flower and fruit production in A. theophrasti , and early onset of flowering up to two weeks when a high‐temperature mixed‐wood biochar was applied to a non‐soil medium (Seehausen et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative responses of early‐successional plants to charcoal soil amendments

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Charcoal used as a soil amendment, or "biochar," has received considerable recent research attention as a means to increase plant productivity while mitigating climate change through enhanced carbon sequestration. Interest in biochar for use in the restoration of disturbed sites is growing; however, biochar effects on wild plant species of the early phase of post-disturbance succession have received almost no prior research attention. Physiological adaptations that enable rapid growth in early-successional pioneers (e.g., high rates of photosynthesis) should be advantageous in soils with fresh charcoal since plants with a capacity for expeditious resource capture can capitalize on resource pulses from leachable mineral elements. In a glasshouse study, we tested the effects of biochar applied at two doses (10 and 20 t/ha) to brunisol/juvenile podzol soils, collected from a managed temperate mixed-wood forest, on the growth and physiology of 13 herbaceous old-field pioneers. We measured leaf-level physiology and nutrient supply rates throughout the experiment, and biomass and reproductive performance at experiment completion. Overall, biochar treatments resulted in 30-37% increases in final average aboveground biomass, 13-17% increases in photosynthesis, and an average~44% increase in leaf-level water-use efficiency (at 10 t/ha), but with a high species-specific variation that included negative responses. We detected weak negative relationships between intrinsic photosynthetic rates (of non-biochar controls) and some biomass responses: Species with high photosynthetic capacities tended to have low or negative biomass responses to biochar. Plants in biochar treatments flowered earlier and on average had double the reproductive biomass overall. Pulses of PO 4 À and K + were supplied by biochar in the first four weeks of the experiment, while NO 3 À was significantly immobilized by biochar. These results suggest that by providing a pulse of P and base cations, biochar can improve the restoration of disturbed landscapes by enhancing the physiological and reproductive performance of a subset of pioneers that have moderate photosynthetic rates and nitrogen demand. Biochar has important potential applications to restoration; however, biochar is likely to affect community composition strongly, and careful consideration of the physiological rates and nitrogen requirements of target species will be necessary to maximize the success of biochar-based restoration projects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative responses of early‐successional plants to charcoal soil amendments

et al. 2017

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“…Several authors have pointed to a synergistic effect of biochar with compost that can mediate the soil microbial process, affecting soil nutrient cycles [21], promoting C stabilization though the formation of organo-mineral complexes [22], improving plant growth by nitrate-capture in co-composted biochar [23] or forming a coating on the outer and inner surfaces of biochar particles that adds hydrophilicity, redox-active moieties, and additional mesoporosity, which enhances biochar water interactions and thus increases nutrient retention [24]. However, this effect has not been corroborated, as other authors have found neutral or antagonistic interactive effects on several plant traits from blends of biochar and compost [25]. Either way, we hypothesize that the utilization of biochar and compost blends represents a valid strategy to enhance nutrient recovery from waste and increase water content, nutrient use efficiency, C storage, and microbial activity in soils [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agronomic Evaluation of Biochar, Compost and Biochar-Blended Compost across Different Cropping Systems: Perspective from the European Project FERTIPLUS

et al. 2019

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This paper reports the results on the agronomic performance of organic amendments in the EU 7th FP project “FERTIPLUS—reducing mineral fertilizers and agro-chemicals by recycling treated organic waste as compost and bio-char”. Four case studies on field-scale application of biochar, compost and biochar-blended compost were established and studied for three consecutive years in four distinct cropping systems and under different agro-climatic conditions in Europe. These included the following sites: olive groves in Murcia (Spain), greenhouse grown tomatoes in Almeria (Spain), an arable crop rotation in Oost-Vlaanderen (Merelbeke, Belgium), and three vineyards in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy). A slow pyrolysis oak biochar was applied, either alone or in combination with organic residues: compost from olive wastes in Murcia (Spain), sheep manure in Almeria (Spain), and compost from biowaste and green waste in Belgium and Italy. The agronomical benefits were evaluated based on different aspects of soil fertility (soil total organic carbon (TOC), pH, nutrient cycling and microbial activity) and crop nutritional status and productivity. All amendments were effective in increasing soil organic C in all the field trials. On average, the increase with respect to the control was about 11% for compost, 20% for biochar-blended compost, and 36% for biochar. The amendments also raised the pH by 0.15–0.50 units in acidic soils. Only biochar had a negligible fertilization effect. On the contrary, compost and biochar-blended compost were effective in enhancing soil fertility by increasing nutrient cycling (25% mean increase in extractable organic C and 44% increase in extractable N), element availability (26% increase in available K), and soil microbial activity (26% increase in soil respiration and 2–4 fold enhancement of denitrifying activity). In general, the tested amendments did not show any negative effect on crop yield and quality. Furthermore, in vineyards and greenhouse grown tomatoes cropping systems, compost and biochar-blended compost were also effective in enhancing key crop quality parameters (9% increase in grape must acidity and 16% increase in weight, 9% increase in diameter and 8% increase in hardness of tomato fruits) important for the quality and marketability of the crops. The overall results of the project suggest that the application of a mixture of biochar and compost can benefit crops. Therefore, biochar-blended compost can support and maintain soil fertility.

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“…Organic fertilizer may form a coating inside and outside the biochar particle and increase hydrophilicity, thus raising the nutrient retention [29]. However, the antagonistic or neutral effect of manure and biochar interaction has been reported in studies [30][31][32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Effects of Biochar-Based Organic Amendments on Soil Microbial Parameters

et al. 2019

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Biochar application to the soil has been recommended as a carbon (C) management approach to sequester C and improve soil quality. Three-year experiments were conducted to investigate the interactive effects of three types of amendments on microbial biomass carbon, soil dehydrogenase activity and soil microbial community abundance in luvisols of arable land in the Czech Republic. Four different treatments were studied, which were, only NPK as a control, NPK + cattle manure, NPK + biochar and NPK + combination of manure with biochar. The results demonstrate that all amendments were effective in increasing the fungal and bacterial biomass, as is evident from the increased values of bacterial and fungal phospholipid fatty acid analysis. The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria population increases with the application of biochar, and it reaches its maximum value when biochar is applied in combination with manure. The overall results suggest that co-application of biochar with manure changes soil properties in favor of increased microbial biomass. It was confirmed that the application of biochar might increase or decrease soil activity, but its addition, along with manure, always promotes microbial abundance and their activity. The obtained results can be used in the planning and execution of the biochar-based soil amendments.

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Is There a Positive Synergistic Effect of Biochar and Compost Soil Amendments on Plant Growth and Physiological Performance?

Cited by 58 publications

References 79 publications

Comparative responses of early‐successional plants to charcoal soil amendments

Comparative responses of early‐successional plants to charcoal soil amendments

Agronomic Evaluation of Biochar, Compost and Biochar-Blended Compost across Different Cropping Systems: Perspective from the European Project FERTIPLUS

Long-Term Effects of Biochar-Based Organic Amendments on Soil Microbial Parameters

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