Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.6
3.6
Journals
Agriculture
Special Issues
Improved Sustainable Agriculture Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment
share announcement

Improved Sustainable Agriculture Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2024) | Viewed by 3798

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xiaoyu Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Interests: biochar; nutrients cycling; greenhouse gases emission; meta-analysis; climate warming; elevated atmosphere CO2; fertilization; nutrients management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainable development of modern agriculture is challenged by inappropriate soil management, such as soil contamination, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and intensification of soil planting. Recycling the carbon and nutrients of agricultural wastes (such as crop straw, animal manure and food waste) could contribute to sustainable food production in agriculture. Converting the agricultural organic waste into biochar via pyrolyzing not only retains the nutrients, but also permanently sequesters carbon in soils. Therefore, biochar production and soil amendment are regarded as promising methods of agricultural wastes disposal and improving soil fertility. A deeper understating of the impact of biochar on soil quality and food production is necessary before the implementation of large-scale biochar soil amendment.

This Special Issue focuses on the assessment of the potential role of biochar application in treating problematic soils, and its impact on crop growth, productivity, grain quality, soil fertility and soil health. Studies carried out under controlled environment conditions are not within the scope of this issue. All types of articles, such as original research, opinions, and reviews, are welcome.

Dr. Xiaoyu Liu
Guest Editor

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
  • crop yield
  • sustainable agriculture management
  • plant growth
  • soil degradation
  • soil fertility
  • soil health
  • problematic soil

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 2413 KiB  
Article
Easily Pyrolyzable Biomass Components Significantly Affect the Physicochemical Properties and Water-Holding Capacity of the Pyrolyzed Biochar
by Kaizhao Zhang, Kun Zhang, Yaoming Li, Qilin Kang, Yaofeng Wang, Jing Wang, Kai Yang and Jiefei Mao
Agriculture 2023, 13(11), 2053; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13112053 - 26 Oct 2023
Viewed by 967
Abstract
The influences of feedstocks on biochar properties are widely reported. However, the influence of the transformation of biomass components (mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) during feedstock pyrolysis on the obtained biochar has not been clearly stated. Here, biochar was pyrolyzed from four biomass [...] Read more.
The influences of feedstocks on biochar properties are widely reported. However, the influence of the transformation of biomass components (mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) during feedstock pyrolysis on the obtained biochar has not been clearly stated. Here, biochar was pyrolyzed from four biomass types with different fractions of the three main components, of which surface area, pore structure, functional group, and thermogravimetric analyses were conducted. Further, we investigated the links among the physicochemical properties and water-holding capacity (WHC) of the biochar by measuring the WHC of a biochar–silica-sand (SS) mixture. Cellulose and hemicellulose were considered the easily pyrolyzable components of the feedstock owing to their low thermal stabilities. Additionally, the thermal decomposition of the easily pyrolyzable components caused the disappearance of most functional groups from the biochar that was synthesized at >350 °C. Moreover, the WHC of the biochar–SS mixture correlated significantly with the surface area and pore volumes of the biochar. Notably, the thermal residual mass and the WHC of the biochar–SS mixture exhibited the strongest correlation. Poplar wood sawdust (PT), which accounted for the highest mesopore volume of the biochar sample, contained the highest amount (86.09%) of the easily pyrolyzable components. The PT-derived biochar exhibited superior WHC than other biochar types, indicating that the dehydration, deoxygenation, and condensation of the easily pyrolyzable components of biomasses promoted gradual pore formation, further contributing to the increased WHC of the mixture. Rather than high-temperature-pyrolyzed biochar, PT350 demonstrated the highest WHC (599 mg/g), revealing that attention should be drawn to the contribution of low-temperature-pyrolyzed biochar to soil water retention in future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improved Sustainable Agriculture Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

12 pages, 1572 KiB  
Article
Adsorption Behavior and Residue Degradation of Triazine Herbicides in Soil Amended with Rice Straw Biochar
by Yuchen Liu, Liming Yao, Beibei Hu, Ting Li and Hongzhe Tian
Agriculture 2023, 13(7), 1282; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13071282 - 22 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1045
Abstract
The removal of or decrease in pesticide residues in soil has attracted considerable attention, due to the serious pollution of pesticides in soil. The purpose of the study was to explore the adsorption behavior of biochar on pesticides and the impact on the [...] Read more.
The removal of or decrease in pesticide residues in soil has attracted considerable attention, due to the serious pollution of pesticides in soil. The purpose of the study was to explore the adsorption behavior of biochar on pesticides and the impact on the degradation of pesticide residues in soil, providing a basis for the remediation of soil by biochar. Biochars were prepared via pyrolysis of rice straw at a high temperature (300 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C, 600 °C). The individual and competitive adsorption of three triazine herbicides, prometryn, atrazine, and simazine, on biochar was investigated, and the degradation of the herbicide residues in biochar-added soil was determined. The selected herbicides presented similar adsorption characteristics to rice straw biochar, and the amount of herbicides adsorbed increased with higher preparation temperature and the amount of biochar. The rice straw biochar adsorbed the studied herbicides simultaneously, and the adsorption amount decreased as follows: simazine > atrazine > prometryn. The competition adsorption of the selected herbicides on the biochar presented a lower adsorption affinity than that when they are adsorbed individually. The adsorption isotherm was best fitted by the Freundlich model. The half-lives of prometryn, atrazine, and simazine were 9.8~12.6 d, 5.2~8.1 d, and 3.7~5.6 d, respectively. Biochar addition increased the degradation of the evaluated herbicides in soil. The rice straw biochar could be the potential sorbents that can be implemented for the removal of pesticides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improved Sustainable Agriculture Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1955 KiB  
Article
The Presence of the Biochar Interlayer Effectively Inhibits Soil Water Evaporation and Salt Migration to the Soil Surface
by Qiang Xu, Hongguang Liu, Mingsi Li and Pengfei Li
Agriculture 2023, 13(3), 638; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030638 - 08 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1346
Abstract
To reveal the mechanisms of water conservation and soil salinity control in the biochar interlayer, the effects of biochar addition as an interlayer on soil water infiltration, evaporation, and salt transport were studied. Through the indoor soil-column simulation test, soil columns were set [...] Read more.
To reveal the mechanisms of water conservation and soil salinity control in the biochar interlayer, the effects of biochar addition as an interlayer on soil water infiltration, evaporation, and salt transport were studied. Through the indoor soil-column simulation test, soil columns were set up by packing homogeneous soil (CK) and biochar spacers into columns at different burial depths of 10, 20, and 30 cm. The biochar interlayer decreased the infiltration capacity of the soil, with the average infiltration rate decreasing from 0.72 cm·h−1 to the ranges of 0.39–0.48 cm·h−1 in the CK soil column, and salt leaching efficiency was improved. The salt content in the bottom layer of soil in the CK column was reduced to within the range of 19.96–47.46% compared with that in the barrier soil column. The presence of the biochar interlayer improved the distribution of soil water and salt. The soil water content in the upper layer above the interlayer was around 7.79–13.68% higher than that in CK, whereas the average salt content was 6.44–60.40% lower than that in CK. The biochar interlayer inhibited soil water evaporation, and cumulative evaporation in this layer decreased by 32.34–42.10% compared with that in CK. The salt accumulation in the interlayer in the soil column decreased within the range of 16.36–51.36% compared with that in the CK soil column. The biochar interlayer could not only retain water for a long time, but also adsorb the salt leached from the upper layer, and thus, inhibit the reverse salt flux from the lower layer. The creation of the biochar interlayer of 30 cm could play a role in soil salinity control and water conservation, and can also provide a basis and reference for the improvement of saline-alkali farmland in arid and semi-arid areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improved Sustainable Agriculture Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop