Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter

The objective of this work was to verify whether the addition of biochar to the soil affects the degradation of litter and of soil organic matter (SOM). In order to investigate the effect of biochar on the mineralization of barley straw, soil was incubated with 14C-labelled barley straw with or with...

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Main Authors: Sander Bruun, Tarek EL-Zehery
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Embrapa Informação Tecnológica 2012-05-01
Series:Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-204X2012000500005&lng=en&tlng=en
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spelling doaj-5e134197e31b487b91511bb331bfb55c2020-11-24T22:38:24ZengEmbrapa Informação TecnológicaPesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira1678-39212012-05-0147566567110.1590/S0100-204X2012000500005S0100-204X2012000500005Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matterSander Bruun0Tarek EL-Zehery1University of CopenhagenMansoura UniversityThe objective of this work was to verify whether the addition of biochar to the soil affects the degradation of litter and of soil organic matter (SOM). In order to investigate the effect of biochar on the mineralization of barley straw, soil was incubated with 14C-labelled barley straw with or without unlabelled biochar. To investigate the effect of straw on the mineralization of biochar, soil was incubated with 14C-labelled biochar with or without straw. In addition, to investigate the effect of biochar on old SOM, a soil labelled by applying labelled straw 40 years ago was incubated with different levels of biochar. All experiments had a control treatment, without any soil amendment. The effect of biochar on the straw mineralization was small and nonsignificant. Without biochar, 48±0.2% of the straw carbon was mineralized within the 451 days of the experiment. In comparison, 45±1.6% of C was mineralized after biochar addition of 1.5 g kg-1. In the SOM-labelled soil, the organic matter mineralized more slowly with the increasing doses of biochar. Biochar addition at 7.7 g kg-1 reduced SOM mineralization from 6.6 to 6.3%, during the experimental period. The addition of 15.5 g kg-1 of biochar reduced the mineralized SOM to 5.7%. There is no evidence of increased degradation of either litter or SOM due to biochar addition; consequently, there is no evidence of decreased stability of SOM.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-204X2012000500005&lng=en&tlng=enterra preta de índioestabilidade da matéria orgânicaefeito "priming"radiocarbono
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sander Bruun
Tarek EL-Zehery
spellingShingle Sander Bruun
Tarek EL-Zehery
Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira
terra preta de índio
estabilidade da matéria orgânica
efeito "priming"
radiocarbono
author_facet Sander Bruun
Tarek EL-Zehery
author_sort Sander Bruun
title Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
title_short Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
title_full Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
title_fullStr Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
title_full_unstemmed Biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
title_sort biochar effect on the mineralization of soil organic matter
publisher Embrapa Informação Tecnológica
series Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira
issn 1678-3921
publishDate 2012-05-01
description The objective of this work was to verify whether the addition of biochar to the soil affects the degradation of litter and of soil organic matter (SOM). In order to investigate the effect of biochar on the mineralization of barley straw, soil was incubated with 14C-labelled barley straw with or without unlabelled biochar. To investigate the effect of straw on the mineralization of biochar, soil was incubated with 14C-labelled biochar with or without straw. In addition, to investigate the effect of biochar on old SOM, a soil labelled by applying labelled straw 40 years ago was incubated with different levels of biochar. All experiments had a control treatment, without any soil amendment. The effect of biochar on the straw mineralization was small and nonsignificant. Without biochar, 48±0.2% of the straw carbon was mineralized within the 451 days of the experiment. In comparison, 45±1.6% of C was mineralized after biochar addition of 1.5 g kg-1. In the SOM-labelled soil, the organic matter mineralized more slowly with the increasing doses of biochar. Biochar addition at 7.7 g kg-1 reduced SOM mineralization from 6.6 to 6.3%, during the experimental period. The addition of 15.5 g kg-1 of biochar reduced the mineralized SOM to 5.7%. There is no evidence of increased degradation of either litter or SOM due to biochar addition; consequently, there is no evidence of decreased stability of SOM.
topic terra preta de índio
estabilidade da matéria orgânica
efeito "priming"
radiocarbono
url http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-204X2012000500005&lng=en&tlng=en
work_keys_str_mv AT sanderbruun biochareffectonthemineralizationofsoilorganicmatter
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