Effect of biochar on soil structure and storage of soil organic carbon and nitrogen in the aggregate fractions of an Albic soil

ABSTRACT

Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of corn straw derived-biochar (700 °C) applied at 0 (control), 10 (B1), 20 (B2) and 30 t ha⁻¹ (B3) on water stable aggregate (WSA), mean weight diameter (MWD), total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in WSA fractions of Albic soil. Compared with control, WSA in > 2 mm fraction increased, by 40.8% and 51.5% (0–10 cm depth) in B1 and B3, respectively. B1, B2 and B3 (10–20 cm depth) increased by 55.2%, 69.6% and 62.4%, respectively. MWD increased by 34.4%, 21.6%, and 17.6% with B3 at 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm depths, respectively. TOC in the > 2 mm fraction increased by 28.6%, 22.1%, and 23.2% (0–10 cm depth) in B1, B2, and B3, respectively, TN in 2–0.5 mm fractions increased by 32.4%, 23.4% and 33.6% (0–10 cm depth); and in the 0.25–0.05 mm fractions increased by 14.8%, 19.8% and 18.7% (10–20 cm depth), in B1, B2 and B3, respectively. Our findings suggest biochar application at 30 t ha⁻¹ could improve structural stability and sequestration of TOC and TN in Albic soils.

KEYWORDS:

• Water aggregate stability
• mean weight diameter
• soil aggregates size fractions
• Albic soil

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the National Spark Programme 2015GA67001 Songneng plain in Heilongjiang Province China, for funding this research. In addition, UEJ (2013DFH373) was funded by the China Scholarship Council.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Spark Programme, Songneng plain, Heilongjiang Province, China [2015GA67001].