Biochar-Swine Manure Impact on Soil Nutrients and Carbon Under Controlled Leaching Experiment Using a Midwestern Mollisols

Thumbnail Image
Date
2021-04-15
Authors
Banik, Chumki
De, Mriganka
Bonds, Darcy
Chen, Baitong
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Person
Koziel, Jacek
Professor Emeritus
Person
Singh, Asheesh
Professor
Person
Licht, Mark
Associate Professor
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Organizational Unit
Horticulture
The Department of Horticulture was originally concerned with landscaping, garden management and marketing, and fruit production and marketing. Today, it focuses on fruit and vegetable production; landscape design and installation; and golf-course design and management.
Organizational Unit
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Food Science and Human NutritionCivil, Construction and Environmental EngineeringAgronomyHorticultureAgricultural and Biosystems EngineeringEnvironmental ScienceToxicology
Abstract

Biochar application to the soil can improve soil quality and nutrient leaching loss from swine manure adapted soils. Our working hypothesis was that the biochar-incubated with manure could be a better soil amendment than conventional manure application. The manure-biochar application to the soil would decrease nutrient leaching from manure and increase plant-available nutrients. The study objectives were to 1) assess the physicochemical properties of the manure-biochar mixture after lab incubation and 2) evaluate the impact of biochar-treated swine manure on soil total C, N, and other major and minor nutrients in comparison to conventional manure application to soil. Three biochars 1) neutral pH red-oak (RO), 2) highly alkaline autothermal corn (Zea mays) stover (HAP), and 3) mild acidic Fe-treated autothermal corn stover (HAPE) were incubated with swine manure for a month. The biochar-manure mixture was applied in triplicate to soil columns with an application rate determined by the P2O5-P content in manure or manure-biochar mixtures after the incubation. The ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3‒), and reactive P concentrations in soil column leachates were recorded for eight leaching events. Soil properties and plant-available nutrients were compared between treatments and control manure and soil. Manure-(HAP&HAPE) biochar treatments significantly increased soil organic matter (OM), and all biochar-manure mixture increased (numerically) soil total C, N, and improved soil bulk density. Concentrations of NH4+ and NO3‒ significantly increased in MHAPE column leachates during this 4-week study and the KCl-extractable NH4+ and NO3‒ in the soil at the end of the experiment. A significant reduction in soil Mehlich3 Cu was also observed for the manure-HAPE mixture compared with the manure control. The manure-red oak biochar significantly increased the soil Mn availability than other manure-biochar treatments or manure control. Overall, the manure-biochar incubation enabled biochar to stabilize the C and several nutrients from manure. The subsequent manure-biochar mixture application to soil improved soil quality and plant nutrient availability compared to conventional manure application. This proof-of-the-concept study suggests that biochars could be used to solve both environmental and agronomic challenges and further improve the sustainability of animal and crop production agriculture.

Comments

This article is published as Banik, Chumki, Jacek A. Koziel, Mriganka De, Darcy Bonds, Baitong Chen, Asheesh K. Singh, and Mark A. Licht. "Biochar-Swine Manure Impact on Soil Nutrients and Carbon Under Controlled Leaching Experiment Using a Midwestern Mollisols." Frontiers in Environmental Science 9 (2021): 609621. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.609621. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Posted with permission.

Description
Keywords
Citation
DOI
Copyright
Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2021
Collections