Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment
Biochar has been shown to improve soil quality and crop yields. Furthermore, thanks to its high carbon content (C) and stable chemical structure, biochar can sequester C in the soil for a long time, mitigating climate change. However, the variability in published biochar stability in the soil makes...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Forests |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1350 |
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| author | Irene Criscuoli Maurizio Ventura Katja Wiedner Bruno Glaser Pietro Panzacchi Christian Ceccon Maximilian Loesch Barbara Raifer Giustino Tonon |
| author_facet | Irene Criscuoli Maurizio Ventura Katja Wiedner Bruno Glaser Pietro Panzacchi Christian Ceccon Maximilian Loesch Barbara Raifer Giustino Tonon |
| author_sort | Irene Criscuoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Biochar has been shown to improve soil quality and crop yields. Furthermore, thanks to its high carbon content (C) and stable chemical structure, biochar can sequester C in the soil for a long time, mitigating climate change. However, the variability in published biochar stability in the soil makes verifying this trait under different environmental and agricultural conditions necessary. Moreover, most of the published literature refers to short-term incubation experiments, which are considered to not adequately represent long-term dynamics under field conditions. This article reports the results of a field experiment carried out in a vineyard near Merano, northern Italy, where the stability of woodchips biochar in soil, its impact on the total soil C stocks as well as on the original soil organic C (priming effect) were studied over two years. Vineyard soil (Dystric Eutrochrept) was amended with biochar (25 and 50 t ha<sup>−1</sup>) alone or together with compost (45 t ha<sup>−1</sup>) and compared with unamended control soil. Two methods assessed the stability of biochar in soil: the isotopic mass balance approach and the quantification of Benzene PolyCarboxylic Acids (BPCAs), molecular markers of biochar. The amount of C in the soil organic matter (SOM-C) was determined in the amended plots by subtracting the amount of biochar-C from the total soil organic C stock, and the occurrence of priming effect was verified by comparing SOM-C values at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Results did not show any significant biochar degradation for both application rates, but results were characterized by a high variation. The application of 50 t ha<sup>−1</sup> of biochar significantly increased soil C stock while no effect of biochar on the degradation of SOM-C was observed. Results were confirmed in the case of biochar application together with compost. It can be concluded that the use of woodchips biochar as a soil amendment can increase soil C content in the medium term. However, further analyses are recommended to evaluate the impact of biochar on climate change mitigation in the long term. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:33:20Z |
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| id | doaj.art-0858258b11e2466d98d626f91397c08f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:33:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-0858258b11e2466d98d626f91397c08f2023-11-22T18:18:17ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-10-011210135010.3390/f12101350Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field ExperimentIrene Criscuoli0Maurizio Ventura1Katja Wiedner2Bruno Glaser3Pietro Panzacchi4Christian Ceccon5Maximilian Loesch6Barbara Raifer7Giustino Tonon8Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e L’analisi Dell’economia Agraria CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics), Centro di Ricerca Agricoltura e Ambiente (Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment), Via di Lanciola, 12/a, 50125 Firenze, FI, ItalyFaculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen, Piazza Università, 5, 39100 Bolzano, BZ, ItalyFaculty of Natural Sciences III, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Soil Biogeochemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Von-Seckendorf-Platz 3, 06120 Halle, GermanyFaculty of Natural Sciences III, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Soil Biogeochemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Von-Seckendorf-Platz 3, 06120 Halle, GermanyFaculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen, Piazza Università, 5, 39100 Bolzano, BZ, ItalyFaculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen, Piazza Università, 5, 39100 Bolzano, BZ, ItalyLaimburg Research Center, Laimburg 6, I-39051 Pfatten, BZ, ItalyLaimburg Research Center, Laimburg 6, I-39051 Pfatten, BZ, ItalyFaculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen, Piazza Università, 5, 39100 Bolzano, BZ, ItalyBiochar has been shown to improve soil quality and crop yields. Furthermore, thanks to its high carbon content (C) and stable chemical structure, biochar can sequester C in the soil for a long time, mitigating climate change. However, the variability in published biochar stability in the soil makes verifying this trait under different environmental and agricultural conditions necessary. Moreover, most of the published literature refers to short-term incubation experiments, which are considered to not adequately represent long-term dynamics under field conditions. This article reports the results of a field experiment carried out in a vineyard near Merano, northern Italy, where the stability of woodchips biochar in soil, its impact on the total soil C stocks as well as on the original soil organic C (priming effect) were studied over two years. Vineyard soil (Dystric Eutrochrept) was amended with biochar (25 and 50 t ha<sup>−1</sup>) alone or together with compost (45 t ha<sup>−1</sup>) and compared with unamended control soil. Two methods assessed the stability of biochar in soil: the isotopic mass balance approach and the quantification of Benzene PolyCarboxylic Acids (BPCAs), molecular markers of biochar. The amount of C in the soil organic matter (SOM-C) was determined in the amended plots by subtracting the amount of biochar-C from the total soil organic C stock, and the occurrence of priming effect was verified by comparing SOM-C values at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. Results did not show any significant biochar degradation for both application rates, but results were characterized by a high variation. The application of 50 t ha<sup>−1</sup> of biochar significantly increased soil C stock while no effect of biochar on the degradation of SOM-C was observed. Results were confirmed in the case of biochar application together with compost. It can be concluded that the use of woodchips biochar as a soil amendment can increase soil C content in the medium term. However, further analyses are recommended to evaluate the impact of biochar on climate change mitigation in the long term.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1350biocharstabilitypriming effectsoil C stockscompostisotopes |
| spellingShingle | Irene Criscuoli Maurizio Ventura Katja Wiedner Bruno Glaser Pietro Panzacchi Christian Ceccon Maximilian Loesch Barbara Raifer Giustino Tonon Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment Forests biochar stability priming effect soil C stocks compost isotopes |
| title | Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment |
| title_full | Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment |
| title_fullStr | Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment |
| title_short | Stability of Woodchips Biochar and Impact on Soil Carbon Stocks: Results from a Two-Year Field Experiment |
| title_sort | stability of woodchips biochar and impact on soil carbon stocks results from a two year field experiment |
| topic | biochar stability priming effect soil C stocks compost isotopes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1350 |
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