scholarly journals Biochar Improves Maize Growth but Has a Limited Effect on Soil Properties: Evidence from a Three-Year Field Experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3617
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Medyńska-Juraszek ◽  
Agnieszka Latawiec ◽  
Jolanta Królczyk ◽  
Adam Bogacz ◽  
Dorota Kawałko ◽  
...  

Biochar application is reported as a method for improving physical and chemical soil properties, with a still questionable impact on the crop yields and quality. Plant productivity can be affected by biochar properties and soil conditions. High efficiency of biochar application was reported many times for plant cultivation in tropical and arid climates; however, the knowledge of how the biochar affects soils in temperate climate zones exhibiting different properties is still limited. Therefore, a three-year-long field experiment was conducted on a loamy Haplic Luvisol, a common arable soil in Central Europe, to extend the laboratory-scale experiments on biochar effectiveness. A low-temperature pinewood biochar was applied at the rate of 50 t h−1, and maize was selected as a tested crop. Biochar application did not significantly impact the chemical soil properties and fertility of tested soil. However, biochar improved soil physical properties and water retention, reducing plant water stress during hot dry summers, and thus resulting in better maize growth and higher yields. Limited influence of the low-temperature biochar on soil properties suggests the crucial importance of biochar-production technology and biochar properties on the effectiveness and validity of its application in agriculture.

Author(s):  
Marcos Renan Besen ◽  
Michel Esper Neto ◽  
Bruno Maia Abdo Rahmen Cassim ◽  
Evandro Antonio Minato ◽  
Tadeu Takeyoshi Inoue ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1128-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gener Tadeu Pereira ◽  
Zigomar Menezes de Souza ◽  
Daniel De Bortoli Teixeira ◽  
Rafael Montanari ◽  
José Marques Júnior

The sampling scheme is essential in the investigation of the spatial variability of soil properties in Soil Science studies. The high costs of sampling schemes optimized with additional sampling points for each physical and chemical soil property, prevent their use in precision agriculture. The purpose of this study was to obtain an optimal sampling scheme for physical and chemical property sets and investigate its effect on the quality of soil sampling. Soil was sampled on a 42-ha area, with 206 geo-referenced points arranged in a regular grid spaced 50 m from each other, in a depth range of 0.00-0.20 m. In order to obtain an optimal sampling scheme for every physical and chemical property, a sample grid, a medium-scale variogram and the extended Spatial Simulated Annealing (SSA) method were used to minimize kriging variance. The optimization procedure was validated by constructing maps of relative improvement comparing the sample configuration before and after the process. A greater concentration of recommended points in specific areas (NW-SE direction) was observed, which also reflects a greater estimate variance at these locations. The addition of optimal samples, for specific regions, increased the accuracy up to 2 % for chemical and 1 % for physical properties. The use of a sample grid and medium-scale variogram, as previous information for the conception of additional sampling schemes, was very promising to determine the locations of these additional points for all physical and chemical soil properties, enhancing the accuracy of kriging estimates of the physical-chemical properties.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4384
Author(s):  
Prapasiri Tongsiri ◽  
Wen-Yu Tseng ◽  
Yuan Shen ◽  
Hung-Yu Lai

The soil properties, climate, type of management, and fermentation process critically affect the productivity and quality of tea. In this study, tender tea leaves were collected from central Taiwan, and organic components in their infusions as well as physical and chemical soil properties differentiated using aerial photographs where good (G) and bad (B) growth exhibitions were determined. Eleven physical and chemical soil properties as well as five compounds in tea infusions were analyzed to determine the main factor that affects the growth of these tea trees. The Fleiss’ kappa statistic results revealed that the wet aggregate stability, pH, and exchangeable potassium content exhibit the most significant effect, with scores of 0.86, 0.64, and 0.62, respectively. Soil quality calculated using the mean weight diameter based on 11 soil properties revealed that ~67% of the total score of G is greater than that of B. Generally, contents of total polyphenols (51.67%) and catechins (51.76%) in the infusions of B were greater than those of G. In addition, significant positive correlations between the free amino acids content and soil properties, including pH and copper content, were observed. However, a negative correlation between the free amino acids and flavone contents and most of the soil properties was observed. The survey data set obtained from this study can provide useful information for the improved management of tea plantations.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Bazzoffi ◽  
Sergio Pellegrini ◽  
Andrea Rocchini

Author(s):  
Marie Štýbnarová ◽  
Oldřich Látal ◽  
Jan Hladký ◽  
Monika Hradilová ◽  
Jiří Skládanka ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in chemical soil properties of permanent grasslands after the cessation of their regular utilisation and organic fertilisation. A long‑term small plot trial was established in 2004 in locality Rapotín. During 2004 – 2012 the experiment was fertilised with compost and slurry, both with the range of stocking rates 0.9, 1.4, and 2.0 livestock units (LU).ha−1 (corresponding to 54, 84, and 120 kg N.ha−1). It was further observed the unfertilised grassland as control. The plots were cut 2 – 4 times per year depending on given dose of fertiliser. During 2013 –2016 the regular management was ceased and the grasslands were completely abandoned. It was found statistically significant influence of the year and the type of fertiliser almost for all evaluated parameters. The dose of nitrogen was not significant. On the basis of our results we can conclude, that the both types of the organic fertilisers had a positive influence on the chemical soil properties, however, the compost manifested itself as the better fertiliser than the slurry from this point of view. In 2016, four years after the last application of the organic fertilisers, there were found the better chemical soil conditions in the treatments previously fertilised with compost.


Soil Horizons ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
E.J. Neafsey ◽  
Stephen D. DeGloria ◽  
Matthew W. Havens ◽  
William D. Philpot ◽  
Patrick J. Sullivan

2013 ◽  
Vol 373 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 243-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Guillermo Bueno ◽  
José Azorín ◽  
Daniel Gómez-García ◽  
Concepción L. Alados ◽  
David Badía

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e0207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo H. Dalposso ◽  
Miguel A. Uribe-Opazo ◽  
Jerry A. Johann

One of the problems that occur when working with regression models is regarding the sample size; once the statistical methods used in inferential analyzes are asymptotic if the sample is small the analysis may be compromised because the estimates will be biased. An alternative is to use the bootstrap methodology, which in its non-parametric version does not need to guess or know the probability distribution that generated the original sample. In this work we used a set of soybean yield data and physical and chemical soil properties formed with fewer samples to determine a multiple linear regression model. Bootstrap methods were used for variable selection, identification of influential points and for determination of confidence intervals of the model parameters. The results showed that the bootstrap methods enabled us to select the physical and chemical soil properties, which were significant in the construction of the soybean yield regression model, construct the confidence intervals of the parameters and identify the points that had great influence on the estimated parameters.


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