title: Biochar-induced concomitant decrease in ammonia volatilization and increase in nitrogen use efficiency by wheat.
abstract: Ammonia (NH3) volatilization is a major nitrogen (N) loss from the soil, especially under tropical conditions, NH3 volatilization results in low N use efficiency by crops. Incubation experiments were conducted using five soils (pH 5.5-9.0), three N sources such as, urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and poultry manure (PM) and two biochars such as, poultry litter biochar (PL-BC) and macadamia nut shell biochar (MS-BC). Ammonia volatilization was higher at soil with higher pH (pH exceeding 8) due to the increased hydroxyl ions. Among the N sources, urea recorded the highest NH3 volatilization (151.6 mg kg(-1)soil) followed by PM (124.2 mg kg(-1)soil) and DAP (99 mg kg(-1)soil). Ammonia volatilization was reduced by approximately 70% with PL-BC and MS-BC. The decreased NH3 volatilization with biochars is attributed to multiple mechanisms such as NH3 adsorption/immobilization, and nitrification. Moreover, biochar increased wheat dry weight and N uptake as high as by 24.24% and 76.11%, respectively. This study unravels the immense potential of biochar in decreasing N volatilization from soils and simultaneously improving use efficiency by wheat.
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia. Electronic address: sanchita.mandal@mymail.unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sanchita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia.
authors.forename: Ramya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thangarajan
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia.
authors.forename: Nanthi S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Bolan
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia.
authors.forename: Binoy
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia; NBE, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Korea Biochar Research Center & Department of Biological Environment, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Sik
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Ok
authors.affiliation: CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia; Global Institute for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naidu
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport / Q000187:drug effects; D002606:Charcoal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008372:Manure / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D011200:Poultry; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014908:Triticum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil; C540010:biochar; D002606:Charcoal; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Ammonia volatilization; Biochar; Nitrogen dynamics; PH; Urea; Wheat