Important biochar thesis from Nepal, Co/ Norway

I highly recommend reading at least the 4-page Summary to Naba's thesis. Its well written and findings look very important for Nepal and tropical agriculture in general.
You can link to the full document with a click on the cover page image below...

EFB biochar, composting in Indonesia

Formulation of Biochar-Compost and Phosphate Solubilizing Fungi from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch to Improve Growth of Maize in an Ultisol of Central Kalimantan

Gusti Irya Ichriani ^{1, 2},  Syehfani Syehfani ³,  Yulia Nuraini ³,  Eko Handayanto ⁴  

ABSTRACT:

The efficiency of phosphorus uptake by plants in an Ultisol soil is very low because most of soil phosphorus is precipitated by Al and Fe. Oil palm empty fruit bunches can be used as basic materials of biochar and compost, and as sources of isolates of phosphate solubilizing fungi. This study was aimed to elucidate the effect of application of phosphate solubilizing fungi with biochar and compost generated from oil palm empty fruit bunches on growth and yield of maize an Ultisol of Central Kalimantan. This study consisted of two experiments. The first experiment was inoculation of four isolates of phosphate solubilizing fungi isolated from of oil palm empty fruit bunches, i.e. Acremonium (TB1), Aspergillus (TM7), Hymenella (TM1) and Neosartorya (TM8) to 'biocom' media (mixture of biochar and compost generated from oil palm empty fruit bunches) to obtain phosphate solubilizing fungi that can adapt to the media. In the second experiment, the best results in the first experiment were applied to an Ultisol soil planted with maize. The results showed that isolates that were best adapted to biocom media were Aspergillus-TB7 with 60:40 proportion (60% biochar + 40% compost) and Neosartorya-TM8 with 70:30 proportions (60% biochar + 40% compost). The application of the first experiment results to the second experiment showed that the application of biocom plus Neosartorya-TM8 (BTM) on an Ultisol soil significantly improved growth and yield of maize, as well as phosphorus uptake and efficiency of phosphorus uptake by maize.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:

Eko Handayanto   

Research Centre for Management of Degraded and Mining Lands, Brawijaya University, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, Indonesia

EFB biochar for improved maize production - Indonesia

Formulation of Biochar-Compost and Phosphate Solubilizing Fungi from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch to Improve Growth of Maize in an Ultisol of Central Kalimantan

ABSTRACT:

The efficiency of phosphorus uptake by plants in an Ultisol soil is very low because most of soil phosphorus is precipitated by Al and Fe. Oil palm empty fruit bunches can be used as basic materials of biochar and compost, and as sources of isolates of phosphate solubilizing fungi. This study was aimed to elucidate the effect of application of phosphate solubilizing fungi with biochar and compost generated from oil palm empty fruit bunches on growth and yield of maize an Ultisol of Central Kalimantan. This study consisted of two experiments. The first experiment was inoculation of four isolates of phosphate solubilizing fungi isolated from of oil palm empty fruit bunches, i.e. Acremonium (TB1), Aspergillus (TM7), Hymenella (TM1) and Neosartorya (TM8) to 'biocom' media (mixture of biochar and compost generated from oil palm empty fruit bunches) to obtain phosphate solubilizing fungi that can adapt to the media. In the second experiment, the best results in the first experiment were applied to an Ultisol soil planted with maize. The results showed that isolates that were best adapted to biocom media were Aspergillus-TB7 with 60:40 proportion (60% biochar + 40% compost) and Neosartorya-TM8 with 70:30 proportions (60% biochar + 40% compost). The application of the first experiment results to the second experiment showed that the application of biocom plus Neosartorya-TM8 (BTM) on an Ultisol soil significantly improved growth and yield of maize, as well as phosphorus uptake and efficiency of phosphorus uptake by maize.

Biochar social enterprise in Thailand (part 3 of 5)

Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar - Part 3

• Published on September 3, 2018

Michael Shafer

President, Board of Directors at Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. 14 articles

Sows’ Ears into Silk Purses

On Sun, Sep 2, 2018 at 8:42 PM 'd.michael.shafer@gmail.com' d.michael.shafer@gmail.com [biochar] <biochar@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

  Here is the 3rd article in the 5 part series, this one focused on how a small-scale biochar social enterprise business model can (and does) work.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cool-climate-clean-environment-improve-public-health-reduce-shafer-2d/

For those of you who are frustrated with the drip feeding of articles, this link will take you to a downloadable PDF of all five:   https://warmheartworldwide.org/cool-the-climate-pdf/ 

SEA Haze issue: article Part 2 of 5

Here is part 2 of Michael Shafer's 5-part series. Part 1 can be found by scrolling down...

Cool the Climate, Clean the Environment, Improve Public Health, Reduce Rural Poverty with Small-Scale Biochar - Part 2

• Published on August 28, 2018

Michael Shafer

President, Board of Directors at Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. 12 articles

Crop residue burning in Thailand - WarmHeart (part 1of 5)

Dr Michael Shafer's work with biochar from his 'WarmHeart' base in northern Thailand is well reported here (see WarmHeart tag). Michael is kicking off a 5-part report focused on crop residue burning. Below is his announcement on this to the yahoo international biochar discussion group. It is a highly relevant read for those of us interested in solving regional haze issues.

23502 First of series about small-scale biochar to stop crop waste burning

d.michael.shafer@gmail.com

Aug 21 3:04 AM

"I live in North Thailand where smoke from burning  corn and rice fields blocks the sun a couple of months a year. Burning wheat straw smoke closes Delhi every year, too.

Because most of the farmers who burn are poor and small, collecting their crop waste for central processing is uneconomical and their fields are too small, too steep, too rocky to plow, even if they could afford a tractor.

They are so poor, however, that converting their crop waste to biochar makes lots of sense. Establishing village-scale social enterprises to process local biochar into value added products is also not only appealing to farmers but a replicable way to solve the crop waste burning problem where it starts - in small farmers' fields.

This is the first of a five part series in which I make the case for a small-scale biochar social enterprise business model for addressing the problem. The remaining four will appear over the next few weeks.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cool-climate-clean-environment-improve-public-health-reduce-shafer/

I would welcome any comments, suggestions, corrections or criticisms."

Michael Shafer
www.warmheartworldwide.org
www.twitter.com/warmheartorg

http://www.facebook.com/warmheartworldwide

Dr. D. Michael Shafer Founder and Director, Warm Heart +1 732-745-9295 | +66 (0)85 199-2958 | d.michael.shafer@... www.warmhearworldwide.org | Skype: d.michael.shafer53 61 M.8 T.Maepang A.Phrao 50190 Chiang Mai Thailand

Biochar and maize study in Nepal

Biochar improves maize growth by alleviation of nutrient stress in a moderately acidic low-input Nepalese soil

• Naba Raj Pandit^{a, b, c},
• Jan Mulder^b,
• Sarah Elizabeth Hale^a,
• Vegard Martinsen^b,
• Hans Peter Schmidt^d,
• Gerard Cornelissen^{a, b, ,}

 Show more

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.022

Get rights and content

Under a Creative Commons license

  Open Access

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Highlights

•

Soil limitations (moisture, nutrients, acidity) were manipulated one by one to find out why biochar improved crop growth.

•

Biochar addition increased soil pH, plant available P, K and soil moisture retention in this weathered Nepalese soil.

•

The biochar effect on plant growth was mainly due to alleviation of nutrient stress.

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Abstract

We studied the role of biochar in improving soil fertility for maize production. The effects of biochar on the alleviation of three potential physical-chemical soil limitations for maize growth were investigated, i.e. water stress, nutrient stress and acid stress. Experiments involved soils with two dosages of biochar (0.5% and 2% w:w), as well as ones without biochar, in combination with four different dosages of NPK fertilizer, water and lime. Biochar was produced from the invasive shrubby weed Eupatorium adenophorum using flame curtain kilns. This is the first study to alleviate one by one the water stress, nutrient stress and acid stress in order to investigate the mechanisms of biochar effects on soil fertility.

Biochar addition increased soil moisture, potassium (K) and plant available phosphorous (P-AL), which all showed significant positive relationship (p < 0.001) with above ground biomass of maize. However, biochar was much more effective at abundant soil watering (+ 311% biomass) than at water-starved conditions (+ 67% biomass), indicating that biochar did increase soil moisture, but that this was not the main reason for the positive biomass growth effects. Biochar addition did have a stronger effect under nutrient-stressed conditions (+ 363%) than under abundant nutrient application (+ 132%). Biochar amendment increased soil pH, but liming and pH had no effect on maize dry biomass, so acidity stress alleviation was not the mechanism of biochar effects on soil fertility.

In conclusion, the alleviation of nutrient stress was the probably the main factor contributing to the increased maize biomass production upon biochar addition to this moderately acidic Inceptisol.