Biochar decelerates soil organic nitrogen cycling but stimulates soil nitrification in a temperate arable field trial.

ABSTRACT: Biochar production and subsequent soil incorporation could provide carbon farming solutions to global climate change and escalating food demand. There is evidence that biochar amendment causes fundamental changes in soil nutrient cycles, often resulting in marked increases in crop production, particularly in acidic and in infertile soils with low soil organic matter contents, although comparable outcomes in temperate soils are variable. We offer insight into the mechanisms underlying these findings by focusing attention on the soil nitrogen (N) cycle, specifically on hitherto unmeasured processes of organic N cycling in arable soils. We here investigated the impacts of biochar addition on soil organic and inorganic N pools and on gross transformation rates of both pools in a biochar field

SUBMITTER: Prommer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3907405 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature