Research from Timor on biochar

Improving mungbean growth in a semiarid dryland system with agricultural waste biochars and cattle manure

Center for Dryland Studies, Universitas Timor, Indonesia 

Abstract

Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) productivity in dryland decreased recently due to the soil fertility degradation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of biochar types and cattle manure rates on the growth of mungbean in semi-arid dark soil. The factorial completely randomized block design 3 x 5 with four replicates was set to arrange treatments for the field trial. Two biochars (rice husk and sawdust) at 10 t/ha in combination with four rates of cattle manure (1, 3, 5 and 10 t/ha) and control (without biochar and cattle manure) were applied to the soil, incubated for three weeks and then planted with mungbean cv. Fore Belu. The results revealed that additions of biochar and cattle manure increased soil moisture and soil electrical conductivity by 2-4% and 0.15-0.20, respectively; decreased soil temperature and bulk density by 1-2^oC and 0.2 g/cm³, respectively; increased plant height, stem diameter, root length, total, shoot and root dry weights by 4 cm, 0.1 cm, 5 cm, 7 g, 0.9 g and 6 g, respectively, compared to the control. The best growth of mungbean was obtained from the additions of sawdust biochar at 10 t/ha and cattle manure at 3 t/ha.

 

Hawaii research on biochar in tropical soils

Love the 3D...

Effects of biochar on crop growth under tropical field conditions

Nguyen Hue

Effects of biochar on crop and soil under field conditions have been lacking. Thus, a field experiment was conducted on an Oxisol (Rhodic haplustox, Wahiawa series) in Oahu Island, Hawaii. A biochar locally produced from macadamia shell feedstock was applied along with either urea, or organic nitrogen (N) fertilizers (blood meal: 10% N and Organic Farm: 12% N). Sweet corn (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max), and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) served as the test crops. The N application rates were 150 and 300 kg N/ha, and biochar rates were 0, 2, and 4% by weight. The experiment had a factorial design, with biochar rate as main plot, N source as subplot, and N rate as sub-subplot. There were 3 replications per treatment. Table 1 shows selected chemical properties of the soil and biochar; and Figure 1 shows the set-up of the experiment (see the attached).

Our preliminary results showed that the N use efficiency markedly increased in the presence of biochar, especially for corn, okra, and even soybean (Tables 2 and 3, see the PDF file attached). Interestingly, the effect of biochar on plant growth seemed to extend beyond N nutrition because the treatments receiving biochar but no N input also out-yielded those having N input but no biochar (Figure 2,see the PDF file attached). Our experiment will be continued for some more years to test the prolonged/aging effect of biochar.

• WSARE report_2017field.pdf

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Biochar & pineapple industry

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/costa-rica-paves-the-way-for-climate-smart-agriculture

Promising pepper production

Biochar potential in intensive cultivation of Capsicum anuum L. (sweet pepper): Crop yield and plant protection

Authors

Abhay Kumar, Yigal Elad, Ludmila Tsechansky, Vikas Abrol, Beni Lew, Rivka Offenbach, Ellen R. Graber

• Accepted manuscript online: 14 June 2017Full publication history
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.8486  View/save citation
• Cited by (CrossRef): 0 articlesCheck for updates

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The influence of various biochars on crop yield and disease resistance of Capsicum anuumL. (sweet pepper) under modern, high-input, intensive net house cultivation was tested over the course of 2011 to 2014 in the Arava desert region of Israel. A pot experiment with Lactuca sativa L. (lettuce) grown in the absence of fertilizer employed the 3-year old field trial soils to determine if biochar treatments contributed to soil intrinsic fertility.

RESULTS

Biochar amendments resulted in a significant increase in number and weight of pepper fruits over three years. Concomitant to the increased yield, biochar significantly decreased the severity of powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica) disease and broad mite (Polyphagotarsonemus latus) pest infestation. Biochar additions resulted in increased soil organic matter but did not influence the pH, electrical conductivity, or soil or plant mineral nutrients. Intrinsic fertility experiments with lettuce showed that 2 of the 4 biochar-treated field soils had significant positive impacts on lettuce fresh weight, and total chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanins content.

CONCLUSION

Biochar-based soil management can enhance functioning of intensive, commercial, net house production of peppers under the tested conditions, resulting in increased crop yield and plant resistance to disease over several years.

Biochar average crop boost of 25% in tropics

This research supports potential biochar crop benefits for SEA region. It will be interesting to see how temperate biochar world responds to findings. There are plenty of reasons to use biochar other than crop production enhancement... and there are plenty of temperate soils with deficiencies that biochar can help with and thus boost crop yields. I think that a 'meta-analysis' flattens out all the data, hiding success and failure. The researchers have provided a link to their data spreadsheet. Maybe the results can be refined based on soil deficiency? This would be more useful?

new research on effect of biochar in open field crops:

"Biochar boosts tropical but not temperate crop yields''

"For years it has been promoted as a soil additive to increase crop yields. A new study casts doubt on that view, finding that biochar only improves crop growth in the tropics, with no yield benefit at all in the temperate zone.

The team of researchers gathered data from more than 1,000 empirical observations conducted around the world, each measuring the effect of biochar on crop yield. Then, they used meta-analysis, an advanced statistical technique that analyses many studies at the same time, to test whether the beneficial effect of biochar addition depends on geography.

That’s when the surprising result emerged: “Location, location, location: it really matters for biochar”, said Dr. Jeffery, lead author of the study and senior lecturer at Harper Adams University. “Biochar had a huge benefit in the tropics, a 25 per cent increase in yield. But in the temperate zone, there was just no effect at all. We were really surprised.”

The surprise came because past work has assumed that the beneficial yield effects of biochar are universal, applying to soils no matter where they occur. The new study was the first to test rigorously whether geography matters, and the researchers were able to do this because of the very large dataset they assembled.

The idea of biochar was inspired by a rare type of soil that occurs in the tropics, ‘terra preta’ – Portuguese for ‘black earth’, so named because the soil is rich in black carbon, the partially burned remains of old plants, much like charcoal. ‘Terra preta’ is fertile, with favourable pH, unlike typical tropical soils which are low in fertility and acidic. Initial experiments showed that adding biochar to typical tropical soils increased crop yields, making it possible for farmers to cultivate a plot of land in these soils for more than a few years.

The new study supports that view: “Our findings confirm that biochar can benefit farms in low-nutrient, acidic soils such as in the tropics”, explained Dr. Jeffery. “But in more fertile soils, such as those in the temperate zone, obtaining yield increases through biochar application is much less certain.” While it is possible that, biochar may maintain yields in some soils, while cutting costs on the purchase and application of fertilisers and agricultural lime, more research is needed to identify soils where such applications are relevant.

Many other benefits have been claimed for biochar, including managing waste, sequestering carbon in the soil, soil greenhouse gas flux mitigation, crop disease suppression, and being more environmentally friendly than adding synthetic chemicals to the soil. The new study did not evaluate these other potential benefits, and the authors note that some of these may still hold in both temperate and tropical regions, and that biochar research needs to focus on trade-offs between biochar’s interaction with these ecosystem services.

“While there may be other benefits to using biochar in the temperate zone, like increasing soil carbon to slow climate change”, said Dr. Jeffery, “our analysis, summarising over 1,000 observations, shows that the yield benefits just aren’t there. So if the goal for biochar application is boosting crop yield, stick to the tropics.”

The report has been published, open access, in Environmental Research Letters."

Award for Hans-Peter Schmidt's work in Nepal

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Biochar project wins best International Development Project

21.04.2017

An NDF project testing biochar’s potential as fertiliser in Nepal was commended in April 2017 with an award for best International Development Project.

The award was given to Landell Mills for best International Development Project by British Expertise International. Landell Mills is a UK-based international development consulting firm. The project was an Asian Development Bank-administered and NDF-funded project in Nepal titled Mainstreaming Climate Change Risk Management in Development. Landell Mills was the technical assistance service provider.
The project assessed the viability for scale-up of biochar use as a strategy for addressing climate mitigation and adaptation by improving soil health, fertility and plant productivity, and resulting farm income. Biochar is charcoal fertiliser made from various kinds of waste biomass. It represents an inexpensive way to increase crop yields and holds significant environmental benefits including reduced loss of nutrients and greenhouse gas emissions.
The project was highly successful as it provided evidence from numerous field trials that urine-enriched biochar can, in three different climate zones, improve crop yields in a climate-friendly manner. Some trials showed yield increases of up to 300%.
The most appropriate technology for biochar production at the farm level in Nepal is the soil pit Kon-Tiki flame curtain kiln. Benefits include high-quality biochar production, low emissions, no need for start-up fuel, short pyrolysis time and, importantly, easy and cheap construction and operation, with no initial capital investment except labour. The technology is thus affordable for small-scale farmers in Nepal. The project showed strong scaling-up potential and included numerous lessons learnt that are valuable for all future biochar projects.
NDF congratulates Landell Mills as well as everyone involved in realising the project.

Compost Tea vs E.M. vs Biochar #3 - How to measure Growth Rate of Plants...

Scroll back for #1 & #2 in the series...

New frontier of bio-tech farming - Boreo Post

"Satoyama Farm uses bamboo biochar as a planting medium..."

http://www.theborneopost.com/2017/02/05/new-frontier-of-bio-tech-farming/

Terra Preta - How to make the best Organic Gardening soil on the Planet?

Thailand workshop 18-20 February

Dates have now been fixed for the biochar workshop at Warm Heart.

Check out their Environmental Program here...
http://warmheartworldwide.org/biochar-research-environment/
A fantastic setting to learn about biochar.

Here is a link to the latest workshop flyer. Do get into touch with me or Evelind if you want to make a booking. Numbers are limited to about 15 and transport planning needs to be coordinated so please make contact soon if you are interested in finding out more on this.