Plant growth responses to biochar addition: an Australian soils perspective
Abstract
The use of biochar as an agricultural amendment has attracted much attention owing to its potential to improve soil condition and plant growth; however, production outcomes are often uncertain. Although soil type is a major driver of plant productivity, there are relatively few biochar studies that directly compare plant growth responses across a range of soil types. We tested the wheat growth response to biochar derived from poultry litter and from wheat straw applied at 1, 5 and 10 t ha⁻¹ (approximately 0.13, 0.67 and 1.33 % w/w) in four soils representing major agricultural regions in Australia: an acidic arenosol (Western Australian cereal belt), an acidic rhodic ferralsol (Northern New South Wales), a neutral vertisol (Queensland cropping) and an alkaline haplic calcisol (Eyre Peninsula in South Australia). In the neutral vertisol, where plant growth was vigorous in the control treatments, biochar had little impact, whereas in the alkaline calcisol, there was a small significant increase in shoot biomass at high (10 t ha⁻¹) application rates. Plant growth responses in the acidic soils were most evident but demonstrated a strong contrast to one another. In the acidic arenosol, negative growth impact correlated with increasing electrical conductivity, while in the acidic ferralsol a small rate-dependent increase in pH correlated with relatively large gains in biomass, possibly due to improved phosphorus nutrition and alleviated Al toxicity. Moving towards effective integration of biochar as a management tool will not only require stratification based on soil types, but wider consideration of the main plant production constraints, such as pH, pertinent to a particular system.
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Poultry litter biochar and wheat straw biochar applied at 1.0-5.0 Mg ha-1 to an acidic Aeronosol and a neutral Vertisol did not affect post-harvest total soil N.
“Poultry litter biochar and wheat straw biochar, when applied at the rate of 1.0-5.0 Mg ha -1 to an acidic Aeronosol and a neutral Vertisol, they did not affect the post-harvest total soil N (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
Poultry litter and wheat straw biochars applied at 5 and 10 Mg ha−1 did not affect Olsen's P in an acidic Ferrasol and alkaline Calcisol, but could increase Olsen's P in an acidic aerosol and neutral Vertisol.
“However, Macdonald et al. (2014) reported that both poultry litter and wheat straw biochars applied at the rate of 5 and 10 Mg ha -1 did not affect the Olsen's P in an acidic Ferrasol and alkaline Calcisol, but could increase Olsen's P in an acidic aerosol and neutral Vertisol.”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
Biochar made from poultry litter maintained better plant growth over the control irrespective of application rate and pyrolysis temperature.
“Biochar made from poultry litter maintained better plant growth over the control irrespective of application rate and pyrolysis temperature (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
More biomass (shoot, root and grain) was produced under high rate of poultry litter biochar (10 t ha−1) as compared to wheat straw biochar.
“More biomass (shoot, root and grain) produced under high rate of poultry litter biochar (10 t ha -1 ) as compared to wheat straw biochar (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
In an acidic aerosol of Australia, both poultry litter biochar and wheat straw biochar demonstrated non-linear trends of biochar application rates with wheat yields.
“In an acidic aerosol of Australia, both poultry litter biochar and wheat straw biochar demonstrated non-linear trends of biochar application rates with wheat yields (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
Plant biomass was significantly lower at higher biochar application rates (5 and 10 t ha−1), with a prominent impact on shoot production but also evident in grain yield and root biomass.
“The plant biomass was significantly lower at higher biochar application rates (5 and 10 t ha -1 ), having a prominent impact on shoot production but also evident in grain yield and root biomass (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
Biochar application to a neutral Vertisol had no impact on plant growth.
“Biochar application to a neutral Vertisol had no impact on the plant growth (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
In an acidic ferralsol, the magnitude of plant growth stimulation was more visible by applying poultry litter biochar over wheat straw biochar.
“However, in an acidic ferralsol, a different plant response was evident. The magnitude of plant growth stimulation was more visible by applying poultry litter biochar over wheat straw biochar (Macdonald et al., 2014).”
From A review on biochar modulated soil condition improvements and nutrient dynamics concerning crop yields: Pathways to climate change mitigation and global food security (2019) · cites this paper as Macdonald et al., 2014
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References 72 · Cited by 133
- Authors
- Macdonald, L. M., Farrell, M., Zwieten, L. V., & Krull, E. S.
- Affiliations
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Macdonald, Lynne M.
- Venue
- Biology and Fertility of Soils
- Published
- 2014-05-13
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1035-1045
- ISSN
- 0178-2762 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-0789
- OpenAlex
- W2140268816
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 11.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Biology and Fertility of Soils (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Agricultural Science and Fertilization
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
- Keywords
- biochar, wheat growth, soil amendment, poultry litter biochar, wheat straw biochar, soil type, acid soils, Arenosols, Ferralsols, Vertisols, Calcisols, soil electrical conductivity, soil pH, aluminum toxicity, phosphorus nutrition, shoot biomass, Australian soils
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