Biochar has no effect on soil respiration across Chinese agricultural soils

Xiaoyu Liu; Jufeng Zheng; Dengxiao Zhang; Kun Cheng; Huimin Zhou; Afeng Zhang; Lianqing Li; Stephen Joseph; Pete Smith; David Crowley; Yakov Kuzyakov; Genxing Pan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.179

Biochar has no effect on soil respiration across Chinese agricultural soils

Xiaoyu Liu, Jufeng Zheng, Dengxiao Zhang, Kun Cheng, Huimin Zhou, Afeng Zhang, Lianqing Li, Stephen Joseph, Pete Smith, David Crowley, Yakov Kuzyakov, Genxing Pan

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Biochar addition to soil has been widely accepted as an option to enhance soil carbon sequestration by introducing recalcitrant organic matter. However, it remains unclear whether biochar will negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux from soil (soil respiration). The objectives of this study were to address: 1) whether biochar addition increases soil respiration; and whether biochar application rate and biochar type (feedstock and pyrolyzing system) affect soil respiration. Two series of field experiments were carried out at 8 sites representing the main crop production areas in China. In experiment 1, a single type of wheat straw biochar was amended at rates of 0, 20 and 40tha(-1) in four rice paddies and three dry croplands. In experiment 2, four types of biochar (varying in feedstock and pyrolyzing system) were amended at rates of 0 and 20tha(-1) in a rice paddy under rice-wheat rotation. Results showed that biochar addition had no effect on CO2 efflux from soils consistently across sites, although it increased topsoil organic carbon stock by 38% on average. Meanwhile, CO2 efflux from soils amended with 40t of biochar did not significantly higher than soils amended with 20t of biochar. While the biochars used in Experiment 2 had different carbon pools and physico-chemical properties, they had no effect on soil CO2 efflux. The soil CO2 efflux following biochar addition could be hardly explained by the changes in soil physic-chemical properties and in soil microbial biomass. Thus, we argue that biochar will not negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux in agricultural soils.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	259-265
Number of pages	7
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	554-555
Early online date	5 Mar 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.179
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

This work was supported by NSFC (41371298 and 41371300), Ministry of Science and Technology (2013GB23600666 and 2013BAD11B00), and Ministry of Education of China (20120097130003). The international cooperation was funded under a “111” project by the State Agency of Foreign Expert Affairs of China and jointly supported under a grant for Priority Disciplines in Higher Education by the Department of Education, Jiangsu Province, China; The work was also a contribution to the cooperation project of “Estimates of Future Agricultural GHG Emissions and Mitigation in China” under the UK-China Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (SAIN). Pete Smith contributed to this work under a UK BBSRC China Partnership Award.
The authors are grateful to Yuming Liu, Bin Zhang, Xiao Li, Gang Wu, Jinjin Qu and Yinxin Ye and Dongqi Liu for their contribution to field experiments, and to Rongjun Bian and Qaiser Hussain for their participation in discussions of the data analysis and interpretation, and to Xinyan Yu and Jiafang Wang for their assistance in lab works.

Keywords

biochar
soil respiration
carbon stability
greenhouse gas mitigation
agricultural soils
microbial activity

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Cite this

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title = "Biochar has no effect on soil respiration across Chinese agricultural soils",

abstract = "Biochar addition to soil has been widely accepted as an option to enhance soil carbon sequestration by introducing recalcitrant organic matter. However, it remains unclear whether biochar will negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux from soil (soil respiration). The objectives of this study were to address: 1) whether biochar addition increases soil respiration; and whether biochar application rate and biochar type (feedstock and pyrolyzing system) affect soil respiration. Two series of field experiments were carried out at 8 sites representing the main crop production areas in China. In experiment 1, a single type of wheat straw biochar was amended at rates of 0, 20 and 40tha(-1) in four rice paddies and three dry croplands. In experiment 2, four types of biochar (varying in feedstock and pyrolyzing system) were amended at rates of 0 and 20tha(-1) in a rice paddy under rice-wheat rotation. Results showed that biochar addition had no effect on CO2 efflux from soils consistently across sites, although it increased topsoil organic carbon stock by 38% on average. Meanwhile, CO2 efflux from soils amended with 40t of biochar did not significantly higher than soils amended with 20t of biochar. While the biochars used in Experiment 2 had different carbon pools and physico-chemical properties, they had no effect on soil CO2 efflux. The soil CO2 efflux following biochar addition could be hardly explained by the changes in soil physic-chemical properties and in soil microbial biomass. Thus, we argue that biochar will not negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux in agricultural soils.",

keywords = "biochar, soil respiration, carbon stability, greenhouse gas mitigation, agricultural soils, microbial activity",

author = "Xiaoyu Liu and Jufeng Zheng and Dengxiao Zhang and Kun Cheng and Huimin Zhou and Afeng Zhang and Lianqing Li and Stephen Joseph and Pete Smith and David Crowley and Yakov Kuzyakov and Genxing Pan",

note = "This work was supported by NSFC (41371298 and 41371300), Ministry of Science and Technology (2013GB23600666 and 2013BAD11B00), and Ministry of Education of China (20120097130003). The international cooperation was funded under a “111” project by the State Agency of Foreign Expert Affairs of China and jointly supported under a grant for Priority Disciplines in Higher Education by the Department of Education, Jiangsu Province, China; The work was also a contribution to the cooperation project of “Estimates of Future Agricultural GHG Emissions and Mitigation in China” under the UK-China Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (SAIN). Pete Smith contributed to this work under a UK BBSRC China Partnership Award. The authors are grateful to Yuming Liu, Bin Zhang, Xiao Li, Gang Wu, Jinjin Qu and Yinxin Ye and Dongqi Liu for their contribution to field experiments, and to Rongjun Bian and Qaiser Hussain for their participation in discussions of the data analysis and interpretation, and to Xinyan Yu and Jiafang Wang for their assistance in lab works.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.179",

language = "English",

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pages = "259--265",

journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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T1 - Biochar has no effect on soil respiration across Chinese agricultural soils

AU - Liu, Xiaoyu

AU - Zheng, Jufeng

AU - Zhang, Dengxiao

AU - Cheng, Kun

AU - Zhou, Huimin

AU - Zhang, Afeng

AU - Li, Lianqing

AU - Joseph, Stephen

AU - Smith, Pete

AU - Crowley, David

AU - Kuzyakov, Yakov

AU - Pan, Genxing

N1 - This work was supported by NSFC (41371298 and 41371300), Ministry of Science and Technology (2013GB23600666 and 2013BAD11B00), and Ministry of Education of China (20120097130003). The international cooperation was funded under a “111” project by the State Agency of Foreign Expert Affairs of China and jointly supported under a grant for Priority Disciplines in Higher Education by the Department of Education, Jiangsu Province, China; The work was also a contribution to the cooperation project of “Estimates of Future Agricultural GHG Emissions and Mitigation in China” under the UK-China Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Network (SAIN). Pete Smith contributed to this work under a UK BBSRC China Partnership Award. The authors are grateful to Yuming Liu, Bin Zhang, Xiao Li, Gang Wu, Jinjin Qu and Yinxin Ye and Dongqi Liu for their contribution to field experiments, and to Rongjun Bian and Qaiser Hussain for their participation in discussions of the data analysis and interpretation, and to Xinyan Yu and Jiafang Wang for their assistance in lab works.

PY - 2016/6/1

Y1 - 2016/6/1

N2 - Biochar addition to soil has been widely accepted as an option to enhance soil carbon sequestration by introducing recalcitrant organic matter. However, it remains unclear whether biochar will negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux from soil (soil respiration). The objectives of this study were to address: 1) whether biochar addition increases soil respiration; and whether biochar application rate and biochar type (feedstock and pyrolyzing system) affect soil respiration. Two series of field experiments were carried out at 8 sites representing the main crop production areas in China. In experiment 1, a single type of wheat straw biochar was amended at rates of 0, 20 and 40tha(-1) in four rice paddies and three dry croplands. In experiment 2, four types of biochar (varying in feedstock and pyrolyzing system) were amended at rates of 0 and 20tha(-1) in a rice paddy under rice-wheat rotation. Results showed that biochar addition had no effect on CO2 efflux from soils consistently across sites, although it increased topsoil organic carbon stock by 38% on average. Meanwhile, CO2 efflux from soils amended with 40t of biochar did not significantly higher than soils amended with 20t of biochar. While the biochars used in Experiment 2 had different carbon pools and physico-chemical properties, they had no effect on soil CO2 efflux. The soil CO2 efflux following biochar addition could be hardly explained by the changes in soil physic-chemical properties and in soil microbial biomass. Thus, we argue that biochar will not negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux in agricultural soils.

AB - Biochar addition to soil has been widely accepted as an option to enhance soil carbon sequestration by introducing recalcitrant organic matter. However, it remains unclear whether biochar will negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux from soil (soil respiration). The objectives of this study were to address: 1) whether biochar addition increases soil respiration; and whether biochar application rate and biochar type (feedstock and pyrolyzing system) affect soil respiration. Two series of field experiments were carried out at 8 sites representing the main crop production areas in China. In experiment 1, a single type of wheat straw biochar was amended at rates of 0, 20 and 40tha(-1) in four rice paddies and three dry croplands. In experiment 2, four types of biochar (varying in feedstock and pyrolyzing system) were amended at rates of 0 and 20tha(-1) in a rice paddy under rice-wheat rotation. Results showed that biochar addition had no effect on CO2 efflux from soils consistently across sites, although it increased topsoil organic carbon stock by 38% on average. Meanwhile, CO2 efflux from soils amended with 40t of biochar did not significantly higher than soils amended with 20t of biochar. While the biochars used in Experiment 2 had different carbon pools and physico-chemical properties, they had no effect on soil CO2 efflux. The soil CO2 efflux following biochar addition could be hardly explained by the changes in soil physic-chemical properties and in soil microbial biomass. Thus, we argue that biochar will not negate the net carbon accumulation by increasing carbon loss through CO2 efflux in agricultural soils.

KW - biochar

KW - soil respiration

KW - carbon stability

KW - greenhouse gas mitigation

KW - agricultural soils

KW - microbial activity

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DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.179

M3 - Article

C2 - 26950640

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 554-555

SP - 259

EP - 265

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

ER -

Biochar has no effect on soil respiration across Chinese agricultural soils

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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