Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Soil Research Soil Research Society
Soil, land care and environmental research
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > SR > SR10004
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 48(7)

Influence of biochars on flux of N2O and CO2 from Ferrosol

L. van Zwieten A E , S. Kimber A , S. Morris A , A. Downie B C , E. Berger A , J. Rust A and C. Scheer D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A NSW Industry and Investment, 1243 Bruxner Highway, Wollongbar, NSW 2477, Australia.

B Pacific Pyrolysis P/L, Somersby, NSW 2250, Australia.

C University of New South Wales, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

D Queensland University of Technology, Institute for Sustainable Resources, Gardens Point, Qld 4001, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: lukas.van.zwieten@industry.nsw.gov.au

Australian Journal of Soil Research 48(7) 555-568 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR10004
Submitted: 5 January 2010  Accepted: 16 June 2010   Published: 28 September 2010

Abstract

Biochars produced by slow pyrolysis of greenwaste (GW), poultry litter (PL), papermill waste (PS), and biosolids (BS) were shown to reduce N2O emissions from an acidic Ferrosol. Similar reductions were observed for the untreated GW feedstock. Soil was amended with biochar or feedstock giving application rates of 1 and 5%. Following an initial incubation, nitrogen (N) was added at 165 kg/ha as urea. Microcosms were again incubated before being brought to 100% water-filled porosity and held at this water content for a further 47 days. The flooding phase accounted for the majority (<80%) of total N2O emissions. The control soil released 3165 mg N2O-N/m2, or 15.1% of the available N as N2O. Amendment with 1 and 5% GW feedstock significantly reduced emissions to 1470 and 636 mg N2O-N/m2, respectively. This was equivalent to 8.6 and 3.8% of applied N. The GW biochar produced at 350°C was least effective in reducing emissions, resulting in 1625 and 1705 mg N2O-N/m2 for 1 and 5% amendments. Amendment with BS biochar at 5% had the greatest impact, reducing emissions to 518 mg N2O-N/m2, or 2.2% of the applied N over the incubation period. Metabolic activity as measured by CO2 production could not explain the differences in N2O emissions between controls and amendments, nor could NH4+ or NO3– concentrations in biochar-amended soils. A decrease in NH4+ and NO3– following GW feedstock application is likely to have been responsible for reducing N2O emissions from this amendment. Reduction in N2O emissions from the biochar-amended soils was attributed to increased adsorption of NO3–. Small reductions are possible due to improved aeration and porosity leading to lower levels of denitrification and N2O emissions. Alternatively, increased pH was observed, which can drive denitrification through to dinitrogen during soil flooding.

Additional keywords: nitrous oxide, soil properties, biochar, greenwaste, poultry litter, biosolids, papermill, slow pyrolysis, mechanism.


Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the NSW Climate Action Grant (T07/CAG/02) and Industry and Investment NSW for co-funding this project. We also acknowledge the inputs from Scott Petty, Craig Hunt and Glen Rangott for the analysis of biochars.


References


Andersen AJ, Petersen SO (2009) Effects of C and N availability and soil-water potential interactions on N2O evolution and PLFA composition. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 41, 1726–1733.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | (accessed 18 August 2010).

Dalal RC, Gibson IR, Menzies NW (2009) Nitrous oxide emission from feedlot manure and green waste compost applied to Vertisols. Biology and Fertility of Soils 45, 809–819.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | (accessed 11 March 2010).

Opdyke MR, Ostrom NE, Ostrom PH (2009) Evidence for the predominance of denitrification as a source of N2O in temperate agricultural soils based on isotopologue measurements. Global Geochemical Cycles 23, GB4018.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

R Development Core Team (2009) ‘R: A language and environment for statistical computing.’ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna) Available at: www.R-project.org

Rayment GE , Higginson FR (1992) ‘Australian laboratory handbook of soil and water testing methods.’ (Inkata Press: Melbourne)

Rudaz AO, Davidson EA, Firestone MK (1991) Sources of nitrous-oxide production following wetting of dry soil. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 85, 117–124.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Scheer C, Wassmann R, Kienzler K, Ibragimov N, Eschanov R (2008) Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized, irrigated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Aral Sea Basin, Uzbekistan: Influence of nitrogen applications and irrigation practices. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 40, 290–301.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Senbayram M, Chen RR, Muhling KH, Dittert K (2009) Contribution of nitrification and denitrification to nitrous oxide emissions from soils after application of biogas waste and other fertilizers. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 23, 2489–2498.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Singh BP, Hatton BJ, Singh B, Cowie AL, Kathuria A (2010) Influence of biochars on nitrous oxide emission and nitrogen leaching from two contrasting soils. Journal of Environmental Quality 39,
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Thornton FC, Bock BR, Tyler DD (1996) Soil emissions of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide from injected anhydrous ammonia and urea. Soil Science Society of America Journal 25, 1378–1384.
|  CAS |
open url image1

van Zwieten L , Bhupinderpal-Singh , Joseph S , Kimber S , Cowie A , Chan Y (2009) Biochar reduces emissions of non-CO2 GHG from soil. In ‘Biochar for environmental management’. (Eds J Lehmann, S Joseph) pp. 227–249. (Earthscan Publications Ltd: London)

van Zwieten L, Kimber S, Morris S, Chan KY, Downie A, Rust J, Joseph S, Cowie A (2010) Effects of biochar from slow pyrolysis of papermill waste on agronomic performance and soil fertility. Plant and Soil 327, 235–246.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Venterea RT, Burger M, Spokas A (2005) Nitrogen oxide and methane emissions under varying tillage and fertilizer management. Journal of Environmental Quality 34, 1467–1477.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Verbyla AP, Cullis BR, Kenward MG, Welham SJ (1999) The analysis of designed experiments and longitudinal data by using smoothing splines (with discussion). Applied Statistics 48, 269–311.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Wrage N, van Groeningen JW, Oenema O, Baggs EM (2005) Distinguishing between soil sources of N2O using a new 15N- and 18O-enrichment method. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 19, 3298–3306.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | PubMed | open url image1

Yanai Y, Toyota K, Okazaki M (2007) Effects of charcoal addition on N2O emissions from soil resulting from rewetting air-dried soil in short-term laboratory experiments. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 53, 181–188.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Yao ZS, Zheng XH, Xie BH, Mei BL, Wang R, Butterbach-Bahl K, Zhu JG, Yin R (2009) Tillage and crop residue management significantly affects N-trace gas emissions during the non-rice season of a subtropical rice–wheat rotation. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 41, 2131–2140.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1

Zaman M, Saggar S, Blennerhassett JD, Singh J (2009) Effect of urease and nitrification inhibitors on N transformation, gaseous emissions of ammonia and nitrous oxide, pasture yield and N uptake in grazed pasture system. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 41, 1270–1280.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | open url image1