title: Response of N2O emissions to biochar amendment in a cultivated sandy loam soil during freeze-thaw cycles.
abstract: In the last decade, an increasing number of studies have reported that soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions can be reduced by adding biochar. However, the effect of biochar amendment on soil N2O emissions during freeze-thaw cycle (FTC) is still unknown. In this laboratory study, biochar (0%, 2% and 4%, w/w) was added into a cultivated sandy loam soil and then treated with 15 times of FTC (each FTC consisted of freeze at -5/-10 °C for 24 h and thaw at 5/10 °C for 24 h), to test whether biochar can mitigate soil N2O emissions during FTC, and estimate the relationships between N2O emissions and soil inorganic nitrogen contents/microbial biomass content/enzyme activities. The results showed that biochar amendment suppressed soil N2O emissions by 19.9-69.9% as compared to soils without biochar amendment during FTC. However, N2O emissions were only significantly correlated to soil nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) contents, which decreased after biochar amendment, indicating that the decreased soil nitrification by adding biochar played an important role in mitigating N2O emissions during FTC. Further studies are needed to estimate the effectiveness of biochar amendment on reducing freeze-thaw induced N2O emissions from different soils under field conditions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China.
authors.forename: Zhiming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
authors.forename: Jiangang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China.
authors.forename: Lanhai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li