Abstract
Field studies of biochar addition to soil and nutrient cycling using 15N fertilizers in temperate agriculture are scant. These data are required in order to make evidence based assessments. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that biochar application can increase crop yields through improving the nitrogen uptake and utilization of added inorganic fertilizer, whilst sequestering significant quantities of carbon. Results showed that although biochar addition led to significant spring barley grain yield increases in the first year of biochar application, an unusually dry year; this was possibly not solely the result of improved nitrogen uptake, as total crop N was similar in both treatments. Results suggested it was improved water utilization, indicated by the crop carbon isotope values and soil moisture characteristics. In the second year, there were no significant effects of the previous year’s biochar addition on the sunflower yield, N status, fertilizer recovery or any signs of improved water utilization. These data add to a growing body of evidence, suggesting that biochar addition has only slightly positive or neutral effects on crop growth and fertilizer retention but has the potential to sequester vast amounts of carbon in the soil with minimal yield losses in temperate agriculture.
Highlights
Ancient Amazonian soil practices of nurturing Terra Preta through the addition of charcoal to soil and its modern equivalent, biochar production followed by soil incorporation, could provide humanity, one of many carbon farming solutions to global climate change and escalating food demand.it has been suggested that biochar addition to soil could sequester 0.7 GtCeq yr−1 globally approximately one tenth of the annual anthropogenic fossil fuel flux [1]
Total nitrogen derived from top dressing fertilizer (Ndff) recovered in sunflower and soil following harvest. % moisture content of soil at following harvest in 2012
Massive biochar additions to soil did not cause significant N yield or plant yield depression as a consequence of N immobilization when mineral N fertilizer was added in both field and glasshouse experiments
Summary
Ancient Amazonian soil practices of nurturing Terra Preta through the addition of charcoal to soil and its modern equivalent, biochar production followed by soil incorporation, could provide humanity, one of many carbon farming solutions to global climate change and escalating food demand.it has been suggested that biochar addition to soil could sequester 0.7 GtCeq yr−1 globally approximately one tenth of the annual anthropogenic fossil fuel flux [1]. Ancient Amazonian soil practices of nurturing Terra Preta through the addition of charcoal to soil and its modern equivalent, biochar production followed by soil incorporation, could provide humanity, one of many carbon farming solutions to global climate change and escalating food demand. Economic incentives will be required to stimulate this transformational change in farming behaviour, this could be in the form of yield increases or compensatory payments, for example, an agri-environment scheme for carbon sequestration. Despite the failures in carbon trading schemes, scholars have suggested the social cost of carbon is in the region of $100/125 t Ceq−1 and that a global carbon tax and coupled negative emission technology (NET) credit, levied at this rate could avoid catastrophic climate change [2].
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