This site has been created to facilitate the establishment of a South East Asian biochar interest group. BIG-SEA could provide communication and linkage between biochar researchers, farmers, related industry and supporting organisations, interested in tropically focused biochar industry development. Please get in touch if you are interested in supporting or participating in this effort.
IBI Educational Webinar Series: Biochar for Sustainable Soils (B4SS)
11/29/2018Presented by Ruy Anaya de la Rosa Biochar
projects spanning multiple countries are still relatively few and far
between. There is much to learn from these types of multinational
projects. IBI has invited Ruy Anaya de la Rosa, the Project Director
from the recently concluded Biochar for Sustainable Soils
(B4SS) to discuss lessons learned, challenges and best practices from
his experiences collaborating biochar projects teams in China, Ethiopia,
Indonesia, Kenya, Peru and Vietnam.
B4SS was funded by the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) under the Land Degradation Focal Area in the
GEF-5 Strategies. The objective of the B4SS was to demonstrate and
promote the adoption of sustainable land management practices involving
the use of innovative organic amendments, based on biochar, that improve
the capture and efficient use of nutrients, and enhance productivity,
improve climate resilience, support rural livelihoods, and contribute to
watershed management. A key goal was to promote the diffusion and
successful adoption of biochar techniques among B4SS partner countries
and beyond.
The project was focused on collating knowledge
generated through the implementation of the targeted biochar
demonstration projects. Awareness and improved understanding amongst
smallholders, including women’s groups, and resource managers about the
most effective biochar formulations and application rates to improve
soil functions and reduce land degradation, will be created and shared
among stakeholders. This integrated global approach to advance the
knowledge on the use of biochar for SLM also conveyed other messages to
farming communities mainly interested in soil improvement.
Cost? Free to IBI Members or $40 for non-members. (Not a member yet? Click here to join
and get webinars free for a year, and lots of other benefits!)
Registration includes access to the slides and a recording of the
webinar.
To Register: Non-members may register here for a $40 fee. If you are a member and are expecting to access the webinar for free, please log in first and return to this page for the members registration link and code to appear.
For more information: For more information or if you have any questions about registration please email Caroline Peat at cpeat@ttcorp.com. Want to become an IBI member and have access to all recorded webinars? Visit our membership page to help support IBI.
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.
The video below subtitles but I include it now because of the comments provided by Julian:
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2018 20:30:58 -0400
From: Julien Winter
To: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves (stoves@lists.bioenergylists.org)
Cc: Mahbubul Islam, Dean Still, vhrapp
Subject: [Stoves] Short Documentary on TLUD and Biochar in Bangladesh (in Bangla)
Hi folks;
Here is a short doc on TLUDs and biochar in Bangladesh. It is in Bangla,
but I am sure we can all understand the body language for 'migrating
pyrolytic front', 'cation exchange capacity', and 'sodium chloride'.
The significance of this video is that Bangladesh is a nascent hot-spot of
TLUD and biochar research, because it is probably the most ideal country in
the World for these technologies: 3 crops per year, low organic matter
soils, 80% of population cooking with biomass, >1000 people / km?,
impending loss of land to sea level rise, and plenty of scientists.
It is great the way this video includes both the university professors,
farmers and lots of women. The CCDB project has collected data showing
that university professors increase the self-esteem of women TLUD users, so
it is recommended that professors should be applied liberally in the
countryside to increase cookstove acceptance.
I hope subtitles in English are forthcoming.
Cheers,
Julien.
--
Julien Winter, Cobourg, ON, CANADA
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310006, P.R. China Rice Research Institute of Guizhou Province, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550006, P.R. China
Dear Friends of Ithaka,
The prospects of climate change are so increasingly dire that there
are times when it may seem inappropriate to celebrate a promising
scientific advance or any other good news. Good news, however, is
exactly what humanity needs at moments like this. And to produce good
news, it helps to share them and to create examples that others might
replicate.
One such bright spot in the dark is the inclusion of biochar and
pyrogenic carbon capture & storage (PyCCS) into the recent IPCC
special report. It took more than ten years of global biochar science,
technology development and practice before it finally appeared serious
and convincing enough to the world’s leading climate scientists to
mention biochar-based carbon sequestration as a technology to consider.
It may take another five years until policy makers discover and discuss
this most promising solution to keep global warming in a range that may
still sustain civilization in all regions where human culture prospered
during the last millennia. Five more years for us to prepare the
groundwork with sophisticated technology, understanding of mechanisms,
sustainable certification, and valuable biochar based products. See
linked below our extended comments and the decisive, biochar related
passages from the new IPCC special report.
At Ithaka we have been hard at work on various other positive
developments which we hope will provide inspiring examples such as the
forest gardens with organic biochar-based fertilization that we set-up
in Nepal. A local journalist, Abhaya Raj Joshi, recently visited one of
the villages where more than 50,000 trees were planted and have been
linked to a global carbon subscription model since 2015. He interviewed
villagers on how the new climate farming methods have changed their
lives and the village.
And last but not least, Kathleen’s new, updated white paper on using
biochar in coffee production with lots of new success stories about
using biochar in coffee production and processing from three different
continents. Thanks to funding received by the Biochar for Sustainable
Soils project, you can enjoy the complete white paper with open access.
The Ithaka team will be traveling to Cuba, India, China and the UN
climate conference in Poland over the next months to continue with
education, research, collaboration and in-field biochar initiatives. As
always, we will share with you what we learn and what we believe may be
of service to others. We always appreciate hearing about successes and
lessons learned by others working collaboratively on biochar projects
around the globe, please feel invited to share these with us.
Yours Hans-Peter and Kathleen
Biochar and PyCCS included as negative emission technology by the IPCC
by Hans-Peter Schmidt
Biochar was included for the first time as a promising negative
emission technology (NET) in the new IPCC special report. While the
special report’s overall message was alarming, the inclusion of biochar
is an important milestone for mitigating climate change and fostering
research on pyrogenic carbon. We provide here a short summary on
pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) and relevant excerpts from
the new IPCC special report with regards to PyCCS and biochar. ... mehr
Carbon sequestration to rejuvenate land, water and economy in Nepal
by Abhaya Raj Joshi
Three years after the first 10,000 forest garden trees were
planted in a Nepali mountain village and were linked to a new type of
private carbon trading scheme, the village received the visit of a young
journalist from a national newspaper. His particular insights into the
Nepali way of life and policy, make his report about this acclaimed
pilot project combining organic biochar based fertilization, mixed tree
garden plantation, water retenition, soil conservation, and crop value
chain creation a passionate critic. ... mehr
Pyrogenic carbon capture and storage
In this review, we show that pyrolytic carbon capture and storage
(PyCCS) can aspire for carbon sequestration efficiencies of >70%,
which is shown to be an important threshold to allow PyCCS to become a
relevant negative emission technology. Prolonged residence times of
pyrogenic carbon can be generated (a) within the terrestrial biosphere
including the agricultural use of biochar; (b) within advanced bio‐based
materials as long as they are not oxidized (biochar, bio‐oil); and (c)
within suitable geological deposits (bio‐oil and CO2 from permanent
pyrogas oxidation). ... mehr
Biochar & Coffee White Paper
by Kathleen Draper
An increasing number of coffee growers use biochar to improve
soil fertility and resiliency, reduce dependence on fertilizers, achieve
better survival rates for young plants, increase disease resistance and
optimize residue management. New peer reviewed information on how
biochar can help mitigate coffee rust (roya) and other diseases is
presented in addition to benefits related to soil fertility, composting,
effluent filtration, renewable energy production, residue management
and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire coffee
supply chain. ... mehr (<
• Biochar has potential to be the best management practice for low fertility soils.
• Biochar coating with organic materials can result in enhanced crop nutrient supply.
• Biochar may accelerate the composting process and improve the end-product quality.
• The influence of biochar varies strongly according to the types of feedstock/soil.
Abstract
Rapid
industrial development and human activities have caused a degradation
of soil quality and fertility. There is increasing interest in
rehabilitating low fertility soils to improve crop yield and sustainability. Biochar, a carbonaceous material
intentionally produced from biomass, is widely used as an amendment to
improve soil fertility by retaining nutrients and, potentially,
enhancing nutrient bioavailability. But, biochar is not a simple carbon material with uniform properties, so appropriate biochar selection must consider soil type
and target crop. In this respect, many recent studies have evaluated
several modification methods to maximize the effectiveness of biochar
such as optimizing the pyrolysis process, mixing with other soil amendments, composting with other additives, activating by physicochemical processes,
and coating with other organic materials. However, the economic
feasibility of biochar application cannot be neglected. Strategies for
reducing biochar losses and its application costs, and increasing its
use efficiency need to be developed. This review synthesized current
understanding and introduces holistic and practical approaches for
biochar application to low fertility soils, with consideration of
economic aspects.
NCAT’s own Jeff Schahczenski, agriculture and economics
specialist, published an article about biochar and organic agriculture
that was featured in the Organic Farmer magazine. Jeff writes
that biochar in agriculture has become a “movement” but points out the
difficulties in even establishing a definition for it.
“The range of topics and issues surrounding biochar are immense and
unwieldy,” Jeff says. “If you don’t believe me, just check out the 2015
second edition of the book, Biochar for Environmental Management: Science, Technology and Implementation,
edited by biochar leaders Johannes Lehmann and Stephen Joseph. This
928-page tome is only the tip of the iceberg on the many, many topics
related to biochar. “
You can read the full article at https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/61973642/organicfarmer-augsep2018-e/14.
You can also read NCAT’s publication on biochar here: https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=322.
Jeff has expertise in organic and sustainable agriculture public
policy, marketing and economics, genetically modified crops in
agriculture, organic horticulture, renewable agriculture energy,
sustainable building construction, and intercultural communications. He
served as executive director of the Western Sustainable Agriculture
Working Group (WSAWG), and has been an adjunct instructor for the
University of Montana, Western Montana College, and Montana Tech. Jeff
received graduate degrees in agricultural economics and political
science and served in the Peace Corps in Belize, Central America. He can
be reached at jeffs@ncat.org or 406-494-4572.
This looks like an important read for all managers and green-keepers of sports grounds, golf courses urban green space. I'm not sure what grasses are used in tropical soils. It would be great see some experimentation happening in this region.
Effects of rice-husk biochar on sand-based rootzone amendment and creeping bentgrass growth
XiaoXiao Lia, XuBing Chena, Marta Weber-Siwirskab, JunJun Caoa, ZhaoLong Wanga,⁎ a School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China b Institute of Landscape Architecture, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wroclaw 50-375, Poland
A B S T R A C T "Turf provides an irreplaceable surface for recreational and sport activities in urban landscape. Sand-based rootzone is recommended for turf establishment because of its excellent compaction resistance. It is necessary to improve the water and nutrient retention of sand-based rootzone by soil amendments in maintaining healthy turf. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of rice-husk biochar on sand-based rootzone amendment and creeping bentgrass (Agrostsis stolonifera) establishment. The results showed that bulk density was linearly decreased in proportion to rice-husk biochar. Total porosity and capillary porosity, water retention, and saturated hydraulic conductivity were significantly increased in proportion to rice-husk biochar. Sand-based rootzone amended with 10% of rice-husk biochar promoted the seed germination and young seedling growth with the significantly higher growth rate, leaf emergence rate, shoot and root biomass, and turf coverage than the control. These results indicate that rice-husk biochar had superior characteristics to previous reported biochars in the sand-based rootzone amendment and could be used to improve soil physical properties and turf healthy in sports and recreation playgrounds."
Dr Ruy Anaya de la Rosa was at the recent ANZBC18 (previous post) and presented on Biochar 4 Sustainable Soils (B4SS) project. See tag below for previous posts.
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.
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 1-2oC 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.
The work of Preston and Leng continues in Cambodia. I first reported their work back in 2012 from a publication from Lao (shortcut here). There are plenty of other related reports on feed trials which can be found via the 'feed supplement' label.
Faculty of Agriculture, Svay Rieng University, Cambodia kong.saroeun@sru.edu.kh 1 Centro para la Investigación en Sistemas Sostenibles de Producción Agropecuaria (CIPAV), Carrera 25 No 6-62 Cali, Colombia 2 University of New England, Armidale NSW, Australia
Abstract
Twenty male cattle of local Yellow breed with an average body weight of 92.6
kg were allocated in individual stalls to a 2*5 factorial arrangement of
treatments with two replicates. The two factors were: biochar inclusion in
urea-molasses blocks at levels of: 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8%; and rice distillers’
byproduct (RDB) at zero or 4% in diet DM. The basal diet was ensiled cassava
root, dried cassava foliage, rice straw and molasses-urea blocks.
Growth rates of local Yellow cattle were increased when the molasses-urea
blocks contained from 2 to 8% biochar (intakes of biochar ranged from 0.05
to 0.33% of diet DM); and when rice distillers’ byproduct was fed at 4% of
diet DM. There were related improvements in feed conversion with both
additives. There were no additional benefits from combining the two
additives.
Migrants of Ape in the Gasoline Crack of History
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*"Forget Mars rockets. Only a time machine will get us out of this now."*
*S**omewhere in a Riyadh sitting room in 2004, *a Saudi prince and a Bush
famil...
Nurtured by and dedicated to te reo Māori
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Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents,
Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue
descen...
Biochar for gardeners
-
Biochar is charcoal used to improve the quality of soil for growing plants.
Biochar particles mixed into soil will make the soil loose and friable for
bett...
maccybiochar is in business!
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Please find below a summary recently issued by maccybiochar: maccybiochar
is a not-for-profit volunteer group set up to convert tree litter from
local hous...
Is Mahogany the Answer?
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Is Mahogany the Answer?
True Mahogany or “Genuine Mahogany” is of the Swietenia genus. The Khaya
genus is “close enough” however Shorea genus or Philippi...
Morels! - Waterman and Hill-Traveller's Companion
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Morel Mushrooms
Morels are mycorhizal fungi, that is, they live symbiotically on the roots
of some species of trees. Apples, elms, poplars and ashes are ...
Hoverboards – Which one should You Choose?
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As we’ve seen these past year, hoverboards have become very popular and
look super cool. Today, there is a variety of different types of
hoverboardsavbaila...
Save the Arctic
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*by Renaud de Richter*
*Links*
- This idea was proposed by Denis Bonnelle,
'Solar Chimney, water spraying Energy Tower, and linked renewable en...
Delivering on the promise of soil carbon credits
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[This is a test. Just emerging from a fog. What did I mist? Back to work.
Carbon Farmers of Australia is committed to making the first soil carbon
methodo...
Updates:
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Well, things have changed over the last year and at the moment I'm up in
British Columbia having gotten married at the first of the year. All is
well, life...
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*Cody's Corner*
[image: family4.jpg]
Big Profits
We practice a method of agriculture here at Real Farm Foods that is old as
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Adoption of Niger Seed
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In 2010, an ECHO Asia Notes article entitled *The Recent Introduction of
Niger Seed (Guizotia abyssinica) Production in Northern Thailand* described
how ...
TAKING THE STEP
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Yup! I'm starting a new walk. I've been toying with the thought for awhile.
I liked my previous retreat from the Internet and I'm doing it again, this
tim...
Installing the ONIL Stove in Guatemala
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Last year I had the good fortune to link up with a small NGO in Panajachel,
Guatemala - Mayan Families - and they were kind enough to let me help them
inst...
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