Advanced Research of Biochar Application to Agricultural Soils
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 January 2024) | Viewed by 374
Special Issue Editors
Interests: terrestrial ecotoxicology; biochar effects on soil functions; ecotoxicity, mobility and fate of contaminants in soils; soil–biota interactions; soil functional responses
Interests: bioprocess engineering, kinetics and modelling; waste/water treatment and valorization; biochar production, characterization and novel applications; carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous environmental dynamics; bioremediation of soil and water compartments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Between ancient Terra Preta de Índio principles and a modern, several decades-old concept of biochar application to soil stands a vast body of literature on biochar as a powerful environmental management and sustainable agriculture tool, making it a promising integrative part of climate adaptation strategy.
Underlying physicochemical processes in soil-biochar media result in improved soil water holding and long-term carbon storage capacities, nutrient and water use efficiency, as well as contaminant retention. Nevertheless, little is still known on the mechanisms of biological interactions, especially in long-term and large-scale trials. Although since 2020 biochar has been listed by EU Regulation as a fertilizer/conditioner for organic farming, its application in conventional farming has not yet been adopted as EU current practice. One way to overcome this is advancing the standardization and use of engineered biochars to match both soil and crop requirements without compromising soil functions.
This Special Issue is seeking manuscripts that assess the health of agricultural soils and the efficacy of applied amendments (biochar, biochar-based composites, co-composted biochar, and/or combinations with (in)organic fertilizers). Focus will be placed on the selection of studies on mechanistic effects, long-term, and field applications, containing comprehensive physicochemical characterization of the materials and soil, as well as well-described biochar processing conditions. The aim is to tackle topics including, but not limited to, the following:
- Interactions of biochar-based amendments with plants/crops (e.g., macro- and/or micro-nutrient use efficiency, disease suppression).
- Interactions with soil microbiome and beneficial soil invertebrates.
- Biochar under plant protection products (e.g., role in mobilization of potentially toxic elements).
- Impact of biochar-based amendments on the rhizosphere (e.g., nitrogen fixation).
- Biochar amendments and carbon balance.
We therefore encourage the submission of case studies and reviews that are relevant to this context.
Dr. Marija Prodana
Dr. Flávio Silva
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- biochar-based amendments
- soil functions
- biochar–biota interactions
- carbon storage
- sustainable agriculture
