Four-year continuous residual effects of biochar application to a sandy loam soil on crop yield and N2O and NO emissions under maize-wheat rotation

Abstract

Biochar application has been reported to effectively mitigate N2O emissions and increase crop yield; however, its long-term residual effects remain largely unknown. A four-year field experiment was designed in the North China Plain (NCP) to evaluate the residual effect of biochar on N2O and NO emissions and crop yield under maize-wheat rotation. The study included five treatments: no N fertilization (Control), N fertilizer application (CN), and N fertilizer plus maize-straw biochar application at 3 (NB3), 6 (NB6) and 12 t ha−1 (NB12). Biochar amendment had no effect on maize yield during the four-year rotation, but increased maize grain N uptake by 12.9 − 14.1 % and fertilizer N use efficiency by 13.8 % in the fourth year. Meanwhile, NB12 treatment decreased wheat yield by 11.7 − 15.5 % in each year, except the second, while decreased average wheat yield. Biochar application significantly reduced N2O emissions by 31.5 − 42.4 % during the first maize season, and by 6.9 − 21.3 % in the third and fourth years primarily due to reduction in NH4+ availability for nitrification. Furthermore, this mitigation effect was positively related to soil moisture content and decreased with time after biochar application. Cumulative N2O emissions during the four wheat seasons were 0.25 − 0.85 kg N2O-N ha−1, and only decreased by 8.9 − 9.9 % under biochar amendment in the third and fourth years probably because low soil temperature suppressed N2O production. Biochar addition in the third and fourth years significantly reduced NO emissions by 9.0 − 20.1 % during the maize growing seasons and 10.5 − 19.1 % during the wheat growing seasons, especially under NB6 treatment. The average yield-scaled N2O and NO emissions were lowest in the NB6 treatment during the maize and wheat season. Overall, these findings suggest that 6 t ha−1 is the optimal biochar application rate for reducing N2O/NO emissions and yield-scaled N2O/NO emission under four-year maize-wheat rotation in the NCP.