Review Paper: The Fundamentals of Biochar as a Soil Amendment Tool and Management in Agriculture Scope: An Overview for Farmers and Gardeners

Shareef, Tawheed Mohammed Elhessin; Zhao, Baowei

doi:10.4236/jacen.2017.61003

Cited by 36 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(63 reference statements)

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“…Many of the studies, including laboratory studies, concluded positive effects of biochar application on crop productivity (Jeffery et al, 2011;Zhang et al, 2012; GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT | Biochar application effects on soil amendment and crop yield. Biederman and Stanley, 2013;Shareef and Zhao, 2017). On the contrary, some studies in temperate regions have reported no effect or negative effects on crop productivity (Hussain et al, 2017;Sänger et al, 2017;Cornelissen et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

et al. 2021

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Increasing pressure on farming systems due to rapid urbanization and population growth has severely affected soil health and fertility. The need to meet the growing food demands has also led to unsustainable farming practices with the intensive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar, a multifunctional carbon material, is being actively explored globally for simultaneously addressing the concerns related to improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change. Reviews on biochar, however, mainly confined to lab-scale studies analyze biochar production and its characteristics, its effects on soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The present review addresses this gap by focusing on biochar field trials to enhance the current understanding of its actual impact on the field, w.r.t. agriculture and climate change. The review presents an overview of the effects of biochar application as observed in field studies on soil health (soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties), crop productivity, and its potential role in carbon sequestration. General trends from this review indicate that biochar application provides higher benefits in soil properties and crop yield in degraded tropical soils vis-a-vis the temperate regions. The results also reveal diverse observations in soil health properties and crop yields with biochar amendment as different studies consider different crops, biochar feedstocks, and local climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, it has been observed that the effects of biochar application in lab-scale studies with controlled environments are not always distinctly witnessed in corresponding field-based studies and the effects are not always synchronous across different regions. Hence, there is a need for more data, especially from well-designed long-term field trials, to converge and validate the results on the effectiveness of biochar on diverse soil types and agro-climatic zones to improve crop productivity and mitigate climate change.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

et al. 2021

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“…Due to its large surface area, porous structure and high mineral content, EB has been utilized as an air and water scrubber, as well as a soil amendment (2, 4). Improvements in crop yields and soil fertility (5) as well as decreases in nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and CH 4 from fields have been reported when biochar was included as a soil amendment (6, 7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pine Enhanced Biochar Does Not Decrease Enteric CH4 Emissions, but Alters the Rumen Microbiota

et al. 2019

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The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a pine enhanced biochar (EB) on rumen fermentation, apparent total tract digestibility, methane (CH4) emissions, and the rumen and fecal microbiome of Angus × Hereford heifers fed a barley silage-based diet. The experiment was a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square using 8 ruminally cannulated heifers (565 ± 35 kg initial BW). The basal diet contained 60% barley silage, 35% barley grain and 5% mineral supplement with EB added at 0% (control), 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0% (DM basis). Each period lasted 28 days, consisting of 14 days adaptation and 14 days of measurements. Samples for profiling of the microbiome in rumen liquid, solids and feces were collected on d 15 before feeding. Rumen samples for fermentation characterization were taken at 0, 3, 6, and 12 h post feeding. Total collection of urine and feces was conducted from days 18 to 22. Heifers were housed in open-circuit respiratory chambers on days 26–28 to estimate CH4 emissions. Ruminal pH was recorded at 1-min intervals during CH4 measurements using indwelling pH loggers. Data were analyzed with the fixed effects of dietary treatment and random effects of square, heifer within square and period. Dry matter intake was similar across treatments (P = 0.21). Ammonia N concentration and protozoa counts responded quadratically (P = 0.01) to EB in which both were decreased by EB included at 0.5 and 1.0%, compared to the control and 2.0% EB. Minimum pH was increased (P = 0.04), and variation of pH was decreased (P = 0.03) by 2.0% EB. Total tract digestibility, N balance and CH4 production were not affected (P ≥ 0.17) by EB. Enhanced biochar decreased the relative abundance of Fibrobacter (P = 0.05) and Tenericutes (P = 0.01), and increased the relative abundance of Spirochaetaes (P = 0.01), Verrucomicrobia (P = 0.02), and Elusimicrobia (P = 0.02). Results suggest that at the examined concentrations, EB was ineffective at decreasing enteric CH4 emissions, but did alter specific rumen microbiota.

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“…Biochar characteristics e.g., chemical composition, surface chemistry, particle and pore size distribution, physical and chemical stabilisation mechanisms in soils, determine its effects on soil functions [21]. Application of biochar to enhance soil quality, adaptation and mitigation of climate variability has been reported by many researchers [12,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Biochar incorporation increases aggregate stability by acting as a binding agent the formation of macroaggregates [29,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Maize Residue Biochar Amendments on Soil Properties and Soil Loss on Acidic Hutton Soil

et al. 2018

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Soil acidification is a serious challenge and a major cause of declining soil and crop productivity in the Eastern parts of South Africa (SA). An incubation experiment investigated effects of different maize residue biochar rates on selected soil properties and soil loss in acidic Hutton soils. Biochar amendment rates were 0%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% (soil weight) laid as a completely randomized design. Soil sampling was done on a 20-day interval for 140 days to give a 5 × 7 factorial experiment. Rainfall simulation was conducted at 60, 100 and 140 days after incubation to quantify soil loss. Relative to the control biochar amendments significantly improved soil physicochemical properties. After 140 days, biochar increased soil pH by between 0.34 to 1.51 points, soil organic carbon (SOC) by 2.2% to 2.34%, and microbial activity (MBC) by 496 to 1615 mg kg−1 compared to control. Soil aggregation (MWD) changes varied from 0.58 mm to 0.70 mm for the duration of the trial. Soil loss significantly decreased by 27% to 70% under biochar amendment compared to control. This indicates that maize residue biochar application has the potential to improve the soil properties and reduce soil loss in the degraded acidic Hutton soil.

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Review Paper: The Fundamentals of Biochar as a Soil Amendment Tool and Management in Agriculture Scope: An Overview for Farmers and Gardeners

Cited by 36 publications

References 93 publications

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

Review of Large-Scale Biochar Field-Trials for Soil Amendment and the Observed Influences on Crop Yield Variations

A Pine Enhanced Biochar Does Not Decrease Enteric CH4 Emissions, but Alters the Rumen Microbiota

Effects of Maize Residue Biochar Amendments on Soil Properties and Soil Loss on Acidic Hutton Soil

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