Nonlinear effects of biochar on greenhouse gas emissions and soil microbial community composition under intensive vegetable production in South China

Abstract

Biochar amendment in agroecosystems is proposed to mitigate the greenhouse (GHG) emissions and enhance multiple ecosystem services. However, it remains unclear whether and how various biochar amendment rates can influence soil microbial communities linking with GHG mitigation. In a two-year field experiment with five biochar amendment rates (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 Mg ha−1), we determined cumulative GHG emissions, soil physiochemical properties and soil microbial community composition base one total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) under intensive vegetable production from Ultisols in southern China. Results showed that biochar amendment significantly decreased cumulative N2O emissions by 40–66 % during the whole study period (p < 0.01), whereas effects on CH4 emissions were inconsistent across the two study years. In addition, biochar amendment significantly decreased PLFAs and fungi/bacteria ratio by 4–31 % and 12–39 %, respectively. Annual global warming potential (GWP) was effectively reduced by biochar amendment, and random forest analysis showed that soil pH, C/N, humic acid (HA) and fungal PLFAs exhibited the highest mean predictor importance. The nonlinear correlations between the biochar amendment rate and GHG emissions mainly caused by soil pH, and the 20 Mg ha−1 biochar amendment rate was recommended because it produced the lowest GWP with the lowest economic costs. These findings demonstrated that various biochar amendment rates can differently alter GHG emissions and microbial properties under intensive vegetable production, which can provide new insights on optimal biochar amendment rates for GHG mitigation in agricultural production in China.