Physical activation of biochar and its meaning for soil fertility and nutrient leaching - a greenhouse experiment

The slow alteration of the surface of charred biomass (biochar) over time may contribute to an improved nutrient retention and thus fertility of tropical soils. Here, we investigated soils from temperate climates and investigated whether a technical steam activation of biochar could accelerate its p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soil use and management 2012-06, Vol.28 (2), p.177-184
Main Authors: Borchard, N., Wolf, A., Laabs, V., Aeckersberg, R., Scherer, H. W., Moeller, A., Amelung, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biochar
Biological and medical sciences
Fagus
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General agronomy. Plant production
Lolium multiflorum
nutrient retention
soil fertility
Soil science
Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility
Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments
steam activation
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Summary:The slow alteration of the surface of charred biomass (biochar) over time may contribute to an improved nutrient retention and thus fertility of tropical soils. Here, we investigated soils from temperate climates and investigated whether a technical steam activation of biochar could accelerate its positive effects on nutrient retention and uptake by plants relative to nonactivated biochar. To this aim, we performed microcosm experiments with sandy or silty soil, mixed with 2.0, 7.5 and 15.0 g/kg soil of fine (
ISSN:0266-0032
1475-2743
DOI:10.1111/j.1475-2743.2012.00407.x