Biochar can not ensure carbon sequestration to a significant extent. It is analogous to a candle light competing with sunlight. If you are really sincere and serious about carbon sequestration, think of practicing organic farming globally and set apart 33 percent of space exclusively for forest plantation.

Biochar can not ensure carbon sequestration to a significant extent. It is analogous to a candle light competing with sunlight. If you are really sincere and serious about carbon sequestration, think of practicing organic farming globally and set apart 33 percent of space exclusively for forest plantation.

Yes.i am working on effect of biochar on soil fertility of calcareous soils.c-sequestration is also one of parameter of my research work

Soil fertility is an abstract term and lead you no where to exactness. Instead, work on the effect of biochar on soil microbial load and diversity. You would generate excellent data which would be of practical significance. Treat the soil not as inanimate entity but as a living phase.

Phytoremediation is an useful methodology to convert calcareous soil in to a normal soil. Addition of easily decomposable leaf litter would reduce free cacium carbonate content over a period of time depending on the percent calcium carbonate preset in your experimental field. Your ultimate aim should be to transform calcareous soil in to a productive soil to provide food and shelter to diverse living organisms both micro and macro.

Thanks for your kind reply. I am producing biochar from wheat straw, maize straw and maize stove at different temperature.my aim to eveluate the biochar quality for sustainable agriculture on calcarous soils. Plz give me somd remarkable suggestion and improve it

It is not bio-ethical to burn wheat and maize straw or maize stover since they serve as food for cattle. You have to choose plant materials which are unsuitable as cattle feed to prepare biochar for your research. I am not sure at what stage of research you are at present.

i produced more than half biochar from this feedstock. Now what will i do

If you had already produced, I think you need use it. But, in the future, think about biochar production using by products, like, some kind of straw, for example. Good luck.

Thanks for your kind attention & consideration. What you think about comparision of biochar and compost. Both apply on calcareous soils

Where these soils are? I mean, in which type of climate is it? Because, the biochar advantage in C sequestration term is its carbon stability on soil, specially on tropical climate where we have high carbon and organic matter losses.

These soil soils are located in pkaistan arid to semi arid climate. Not tropical or hilly areas.

In this climate, do you have high levels of mineralization? If yes, you should compare benefits and soil carbon/organic matter life time on a long term experiment, for example, comparing these materials. Observing C losses or transformations during some years.

The objectives of the research should be framed only after critical analysis of the need for the research of practical utility. Since you are already halfway, continue and get your degree. In future, you need to be careful and objective to research on a topic which would further the existing knowledge and understanding.

Soil carbon sequestration is going to be necessary for many ecological & economic reasons for sustainable land use issues, including human induced global warming.

I disagree with correspondent Kunuthur's assertions re the ethical appropriateness of straw as cattle fodder compared to biochar. Agricultural methane emissions are significant GHG components, including those from ruminant methanogenic bacteria, & rice paddy habitats. Current research from China is showing promising potential for reduction and mitigation of methanogenesis in wetland soils, especially compared to incorporation of rice stover into soils.

However, I share Kunuthur's optimism for biochar as potentially beneficial for soil micro-organisms (including mycorrhizas, rhizosphere & mycorrhizosphere bacteria).

I am also deeply committed to increased use of organic farming production to 'feed the soil', especially compared to mainstream practices of soluble mineral fertilisers which are designed to feed plants, but are ecologically & economically expensive, & cause many detrimental side effects of surface water & aquifers. However, organic farming systems are not somehow exempt from causing detrimental effects on soil quality or water quality. In particular, organic crop production often rely so-called "conventional tillage" methods (i.e. plough, rotary hoe, harrow) for weed control & seedbed preparation. In comparison to "conservation tillage" & "no-tillage" methods, conventional tillage can cause many untended side effects including: increased soil erosion, degraded soil structure ( < wet-stable soil aggregates, < soil aeration & drainage, < water-holding capacity, > soil bulk density / compaction ); decreased levels of soil organic matter & humus, & decreased soil biological diversity & ecological functioning ....

I am concerned that we need to compare like with like, biochar will need to be incorporated into soils by means that are not hazardous to workers, machinery, soils, water., or soil biology. Conservation tillage technologies are not restricted solely to expensive high-tech seed drills, many pre-plough & traditional soil cultivation methods are potentially less detrimental to soil quality compared to modern methods using large scale & intensive agricultural machinery.

I believe that it is not necessary to completely mixed biochar into the top 15 or 30cm, however it is commonly accepted that biochar is likely to be most ecologically effective if it can be incorporated into an active rhizosphere soil.

I am very hopeful that biochar can become a relatively low-cost carrier medium to bulk-up & propagate eco-sourced soil micro-organisms, especially for application into biologically & physically degraded soils, desert or drought-prone soils, saline soils, where soil biological nutrient cycling is non-existent or is highly degraded.

Does biochar helps in improving water use efficiency of crop?

The direct answer is not yet known.

However, hypothetically if biochar granules can be used as a carrier medium to introduce arbuscular mycorrhizas into soils which are physically degraded & lacking in mycorrhizas, ... then in theory it is probable that host plant crop water use efficiency will improve, .... as it is known that mycorrhizal fungi enhance the volume of soil available for these symbioses to access soil water & nutrients. If you are already familiar with mycorrhizas then you will be aware that non-mycorrhizal crops such as Brassicas & Beets, & a number of green manures can not directly benefit from these symbioses.

In addition, the formation of water-stable soil aggregates is known to improve as a result of physical enmeshment by the soil hyphae of abuscular mycorrhizal, combined with glue effects of "glomalin" ( so-called "sticky string bag effect" ) Improved soil structure directly affects soil drainage, aeration and water holding capacity.

A commonly held perception of the effects of weeds on crops is that they are undesirable crop competitors for water and minerals. However, in intensive monoculture crops such as canola, arbuscular mycorrhizas can be detrimentally affected as they are obligate biotrophs, dependant for their survival on inhabiting host-plant weeds. Thus, subsequent crop rotations may benefit from mycorrhizas carried over from previous crops or weeds.

There are lots of areas of biochar & soil biology research requiring in depth investigation, however current methods for mycorrhizal inoculation of seedling roots are relatively restricted & logistically & economically unsuitable for inoculation of broad acre crops / soils, as these rely upon nursery propagation & subsequent transplanting of inoculated seedlings. It is also possible to bulk up mycorrhiza populations using "on-farm" production methods that rely on carrier media which are relatively costly, in particular non-renewable expanded clay materials such as vermiculite, perlite, zeolite etc.

Sir, Don Graves

i am Ph.D student of soil science. i am interesting to work on biochar for Ph.D research work. Majority of our soil are alkaline-calcareous. there is no any work on biochar in calcareous soils. i planed to chekout the the effect of biochar on fertility status and chemicla properties of calcareous soil in pot trails. plz give me some suggestion about my research work. i produced biochar according to Sanchez et al. (2009) laboratory setup.

feedstock: wheat straw, rice straw and maize stove

pyrolysis temperature: 300, 400 500

treatments: 5, 10 20 t/ha

i also want to chek out the interaction of biochr with soil microbes. especially p-solublizing bacteria

OR compare biochar with compost on calcareous soils.

please give me somr suggestion.

thnks

And sir can you send me your research paper on biochar as a carrier medium to introduce fresh mycorrhizal inocula into plant root zones.

My email adress. [email protected]

Advent to Pradnya Ghag's question on water use efficiency of crops, please be informed that biochar being a material of organic origin in its finer state of division has the potential to improve moisture retentivity in soils particularly in coarse textured soils. Water use efficiency of crops means the quantity of water extracted by the plant at a given time as against the quantum of water existing in a given soil. Higher the soil moisture, lesser would be the efficiency of the plant in extraction as it needs to spend less energy to absorb water from the soil. Biochar means Bios Char or Char the bios i.e., Charring of organic matter deprives food for soil flora and fauna. You are aware that people prefer to bury the dead bodies in the pits instead of burning them only to feed the soil sheltered organisms with a philosophy that we need to be useful to others even after death. OK?

Water use efficiency is indeed a measure of a plant's ability to extract water obtained from soils. Water use efficiency also depends on plant physiological processes to overcome water potential gradients ranging from a variable soil matrix, to retain and mantain the differentials in water potential gradients from soil water, cell cytoplasm in plant roots, shoots & leaves, ... & to protect against excessive evapo-transpiration to dry or windy atmospheric conditions.

However, the ability of most plant roots to extract water from soil water is not restricted to the zone around roots (rhizosphere), but is also affected by the efficiency of rhizosphere & mycorrhizosphere micro-organisms to access soil water, with or without in turn sharing this water and minerals with plant roots. Mycorrhizal soil hyphae are much smaller in diameter than plant roots, & hence can access soil water associated with a much larger volume of soil than the relatively restricted rhgizosphere zone of non-symbiotic plant roots.

I respectfully disagree with Kunuthur's assertion that charring of organic matter deprives food for soil flora & fauna, as compared to soil humus. Decomposition and mineralisation of dead organisms or soil organic matter is not restricted to prosesses by saprotrophic micro-organisms including soil bacteria & fungi.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are not saprtrophs, but are obligate biotrophs, (i.e. AM fungi need LIVING plant root hosts). AMF obtain their energy from plant sugars, AMF spores are asexual, fresh-cut AMF hyphae can infect nearby plant roots, but populations suffer with repeated dessication & rewetting without nearby plant roots to inhabit & establish symbiosis. AM fungal populations are not able to be maintained / survive in bare soils or where there is ongoing lack of groundcover vegetation.

Unfortunately I am not at all a biochemist, however, nitrogen fixation by legumes can cause a proton pump to discharge Hydrogen ions & hence reduce soil pH... linking to calcareous soils are intersting re pH biochar & soil carbon sequestration....