Abstract
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.
Highlights
Fertilizers used in agricultural management influence soil quality and health [1,2]
There was a significant decrease in dehydrogenase activity (DHA) activity for the soil samples treated with biochar as compared to the control (Figure 1A)
The results of this study demonstrate that the application of biochar with or without manure positively affect the fungal and bacterial biomass, as evident from the increased quantity of phospholipid fatty acid (BPLFA and FPLFA) and the DNA copy number (16S r DNA and 18S rDNA)
Summary
The recent rise in concerns about environmental problems caused by the excessive use of chemical fertilizers necessitates detailed studies on alternate strategies to address such hazards. Long-term use of organic amendments to the soil helps in improving several soil parameters like organic carbon, aggregate stability and crop yield, in contrast to the application of chemical fertilizers [3,4,5]. Organic amendments increase soil carbon sequestration and play a decisive role in mitigating the adverse effect of climate change [3,6,7]. Independent of the type and nature of the applied organic amendment, different changes in soil properties and fertility have been observed in a broad time horizon under different pedoclimatic conditions [8]. The positive effect on total soil carbon, soil nitrogen, soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) has been observed in soils treated with manure [9,10]
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