Abstract
<p>This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of biochar and barley residues on some physicochemical properties of silty loam soil and water erosion using water erosion simulator. Biochar was produced from pistachio shells under slow pyrolysis at 500°C under anaerobic condition. Biochar and barley residues were mixed to soils at three rates of 0, 0.5 and 1% (by weight), and 6.5 kg of soil was filled in trays with length, wide and height of 35 × 20 × 10 cm, respectively. The experiments were performed in 3 repetitions for 4 months as a completely randomized design. The results showed that application of 1% of biochar significantly increased P (phosphorus), K (potassium) and OC (organic carbon) of the soil in comparison with control. Also, application at both levels (0.5 and 1%) of barley residues significantly increased P, K, TN (total nitrogen), and OC. Application of biochar and barley residues significantly increased the mean weight diameter of aggregates, plant available water content, and saturated moisture content and significantly decreased water dispersible clay (p &lt; 0.05). Consequently, the amount of water erosion decreased at the rainfall intensity of 60 mm·h-1 during 20 minutes. Generally, the effect of barley residues to improve soil properties was higher than the biochar.</p>
Highlights
In recent years, research on biochar has focused on enhancing soil fertility, carbon sequestration, activities of microorganisms, agricultural production, mitigating climate change, soil contamination and many other aspects (Solaiman et al 2012)
The effect of barley residues on the increment of soil nitrogen was more than pistachio shell biochar, because the nitrogen content in barley residues was more than that of biochar (Table 2)
The results of the present study showed that both organic materials, i.e. barley residues and biochar – especially the former – improved soil properties
Summary
Research on biochar has focused on enhancing soil fertility, carbon sequestration, activities of microorganisms, agricultural production, mitigating climate change, soil contamination and many other aspects (Solaiman et al 2012). Biochar is charcoal produced from plant biomass and agricultural wastes during the pyrolysis process. This process is a slow burning of organic material in the deficiency of oxygen or even without it (Nabavinia et al 2015). Mitigates greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Wu et al 2013) and has high C sequestration potential in soils as compared to wheat straw and manures (Qayyum et al 2012). High organic carbon due to biochar has been reported by Nigussie et al (2012)
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