Biochar applied with appropriate rates can reduce N leaching, keep N retention and not increase NH3volatilization in a coastal saline soil.
The impacts of biochar addition on nitrogen (N) leaching, (ammonia) NH3volatilization from coastal saline soils are not well understood. In this soil column study, the effects of wheat straw biochar application at rates of 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 4% by weight to a coastal saline soil on N leaching, NH3volatilization, soil pH and N retention were investigated. Results showed that 0.5% and 1% biochar amendments reduce the NH4+-N, NO3--N and total N concentrations of leachate and thereby significantly decrease their cumulative lost loads by 11.6-24.0%, 13.2-29.7%, and 14.6-26.0%, respectively, in compared with the control. The biochar-induced soil N leaching mitigation efficiency was weakened when the biochar application rates increased to 2% and 4%. However, the impact of biochar addition on cumulative NH3volatilizations were negative and significantly 25.6-53.6% higher NH3volatilizations in soils with 2% and 4% biochar amended than control were detected, which was mainly attributed to the averaged 0.53-0.88units higher soil pH as results of biochar addition. On average, the total N concentrations of soil were kept same with 1.01-1.06gkg-1under control and biochar treatments. Therefore, biochar application to the coastal saline soils with appropriate rates (i.e., 0.5% and 1% in current study) can reduce N leaching, keep soil N retention, and not increase NH3volatilization, which was beneficial for sustainable use of saline soils.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037,China.
Haijun
H
Sun
Institute of Agro-biotechnology, Jiangsu Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China.
Haiying
H
Lu
Collaborative Innovation Center of Sustainable Forestry in Southern China of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037,China.
Lei
L
Chu
Institute of Agro-biotechnology, Jiangsu Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China. Electronic address: shaohongbochu@126.com.
Hongbo
H
Shao
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China. Electronic address: wmshi@issas.ac.cn.
Weiming
W
Shi
Biochar; N leaching; N retention; NH(3) volatilization; Sustainable use of saline soil