Co-application of biochar and organic amendments on soil greenhouse gas emissions: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Biochar has been shown to reduce soil greenhouse gas (GHG) and increase nutrient retention in soil; however, the interaction between biochar and organic amendments on GHG emissions remain largely unclear. In this study, we collected 162 two-factor observations to explore how biochar and organic amendments jointly affect soil GHG emissions. Our results showed that biochar addition significantly increased soil CO₂ emission by 8.62 %, but reduced CH₄ and N₂O emissions by 27.0 % and 23.9 %, respectively. Meanwhile, organic amendments and the co-application with biochar resulted in an increase of global warming potential based on the 100-year time horizon (GWP₁₀₀) by an average of 18.3 % and 26.1 %. More importantly, the interactive effect of biochar and organic amendments on CO₂ emission was antagonistic (the combined effect was weaker than the sum of their individual effects), while additive on CH₄ and N₂O emissions. Additionally, our results suggested that when biochar is co-applied with organic amendments, soil GHG emissions were largely influenced by soil initial total carbon, soil texture, and biochar feedstocks. Our work highlights the important interactive effects of biochar and organic amendments on soil GHG emissions, and provides new insights for promoting ecosystem sustainability as well as mitigating future climate change.

Keywords: Biochar; Global warming potential; Interactive effect; Organic amendments; Soil greenhouse gas.