Carbon mineralization and nutrient availability in calcareous sandy soils amended with woody waste biochar

Ahmed H El-Naggar; Adel R A Usman; Abdulrasoul Al-Omran; Yong Sik Ok; Mahtab Ahmad; Mohammad I Al-Wabel

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.05.052

Carbon mineralization and nutrient availability in calcareous sandy soils amended with woody waste biochar

Chemosphere. 2015 Nov:138:67-73. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.05.052. Epub 2015 Jun 1.

Authors

Ahmed H El-Naggar¹, Adel R A Usman², Abdulrasoul Al-Omran³, Yong Sik Ok⁴, Mahtab Ahmad³, Mohammad I Al-Wabel⁵

Affiliations

¹ Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, 68 Hadayek Shobra, P.O. Box 11241, Cairo, Egypt.
² Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt.
³ Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Korea Biochar Research Center, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, South Korea.
⁵ Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: malwabel@ksu.edu.sa.

PMID: 26037818
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.05.052

Abstract

Many studies have reported the positive effect of biochar on soil carbon sequestration and soil fertility improvement in acidic soils. However, biochar may have different impacts on calcareous sandy soils. A 90-day incubation experiment was conducted to quantify the effects of woody waste biochar (10 g kg(-1)) on CO2-C emissions, K2SO4-extractable C and macro-(N, P and K) and micro-(Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu) nutrient availability in the presence or absence of poultry manure (5 g kg(-1) soil). The following six treatments were applied: (1) conocarpus (Conocarpus erectus L.) waste (CW), (2) conocarpus biochar (BC), (3) poultry manure (PM), (4) PM+CW, (5) PM+BC and (6) untreated soil (CK). Poultry manure increased CO2-C emissions and K2SO4-extractable C, and the highest increases in CO2-C emission rate and cumulative CO2-C and K2SO4-extractable C were observed for the PM+CW treatment. On the contrary, treatments with BC halted the CO2-C emission rate, indicating that the contribution of BC to CO2-C emissions is negligible compared with the soils amended with CW and PM. Furthermore, the combined addition of PM+BC increased available N, P and K compared with the PM or BC treatments. Overall, the incorporation of biochar into calcareous soils might have benefits in carbon sequestration and soil fertility improvement.

Keywords: Biochar; CO(2)–C emission rate; Conocarpus waste; Labile carbon; Nutrient availability.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Carbon Sequestration*
Charcoal / chemistry*
Manure*
Nitrogen / analysis
Phosphorus / analysis
Potassium / analysis
Saudi Arabia
Soil / chemistry*
Soil / standards
Wood*

Substances

Manure
Soil
biochar
Charcoal
Phosphorus
Nitrogen
Potassium