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Effects of biochar amendment in two soils on greenhouse gas emissions and crop production

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Abstract

Background

Worldwide, there is an increasing interest in using biochar in agriculture to help mitigate global warming and improve crop productivity.

Methods

The effects of biochar on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and rice and wheat yields were assessed using outdoor pot experiments in two different soils (upland soil vs. paddy soil) and an aerobic incubation experiment in the paddy soil.

Results

Biochar addition to the upland soil increased methane (CH4) emissions by 37 % during the rice season, while it had no effect on CH4 emissions during the wheat season. Biochar amendment decreased nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions up to 54 % and 53 % during the rice and wheat seasons, respectively, but had no effect on the ecosystem respiration in either crop season. In the aerobic incubation experiment, biochar addition significantly decreased N2O emissions and increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the paddy soil (P < 0.01) without urea nitrogen. Biochar addition increased grain yield and biomass if applied with nitrogen fertilizer. Averaged over the two soils, biochar amendments increased the production of rice and wheat by 12 % and 17 %, respectively, and these increases can be partly attributed to the increases in soil nitrate retention.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated that although biochar increased the global warming potential at high nitrogen fertilizer application, biochar incorporation significantly decreased N2O emissions while promoting crop production.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely appreciate the editor Dr. Johannes Lehmann and two anonymous reviewers for their critical and valuable comments to help improve this manuscript. This work was jointly supported by the National Science Foundation of China (41171238 and 40971139), the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB118603), the Nonprofit Research Foundation for Agriculture (200903003), the Program for New Century Excellent Talent in Universities (NCET-10-0475), the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20110097110001), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYZ201110) and the PAPD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Low Carbon Agriculture and GHG Mitigation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jinyang Wang, Xiaojian Pan, Yinglie Liu, Xiaolin Zhang & Zhengqin Xiong

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  1. Jinyang Wang
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  2. Xiaojian Pan
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  3. Yinglie Liu
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  4. Xiaolin Zhang
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  5. Zhengqin Xiong
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Correspondence to Zhengqin Xiong.

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Responsible Editor: Johannes Lehmann.

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Wang, J., Pan, X., Liu, Y. et al. Effects of biochar amendment in two soils on greenhouse gas emissions and crop production. Plant Soil 360, 287–298 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-012-1250-3

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