Response of soil bacterial community to biochar application in a boreal pine forest

• Published in: Journal of forestry research 2023-06, Vol.34 (3), p.749-759
• Main Authors: Ge, Yan, Li, Xiao-li, Palviainen, Marjo, Zhou, Xuan, Heinonsalo, Jussi, Berninger, Frank, Pumpanen, Jukka, Köster, Kajar, Sun, Hui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Annotations; Aromatic compounds; Bacteria; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Boreal forests; Carbon content; Charcoal; Coniferous forests; Cyanobacteria; Forestry; Life Sciences; Mineralization; Nitrogen; Organic matter; Organic soils; Original Paper; Pyrolysis; Soil formation; Soil microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Soil organic matter; Soil properties; Soil temperature; Soils; Species richness; Taiga; Trees
• ISSN: 1007-662X; 1993-0607
• DOI: 10.1007/s11676-022-01509-x

Boreal forests commonly suffer from nitrogen deficiency due to low rate of nitrogen mineralization. Biochar may promote soil organic matter decomposition and accelerate nitrogen mineralization. In this study, Illumina NovaSeq sequencing combined with functional annotation of prokaryotic taxa (FAPROTAX) analysis was used to investigate the effect of biochar pyrolysis temperatures, the amount of applied biochar, and the period since the biochar application (2- and 3-year) on soil bacterial communities. The results show that biochar pyrolysis temperatures (500 °C and 650 °C) and the amount of applied biochar (0.5 kg m −2 and 1.0 kg m −2 ) did not change soil properties. Nevertheless, the interaction of biochar pyrolysis temperature and the amount had significant effects on bacterial species richness and evenness ( P