Cited by 519Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsAgricultural Science and FertilizationPhosphorus and nutrient management

Biochemical cycling of nitrogen and phosphorus in biochar-amended soils

Gul, Shamim, Whalen, Joann K.·2016·Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Abstract

There is global interest in understanding the prospects for biochar application to agricultural soils. If biochar enhances the availability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to crops, this could be pivotal in reducing N and P fertilizer inputs to agricultural soils. This review evaluates the soil biochemical cycling of N and P as influenced by biochars with diverse characteristics, and describes the consequences for plant nutrition with respect to the N use efficiency (NUE) and P use efficiency (PUE) of crops grown in biochar-amended soils. Fundamentally, biochar can alter microbial-mediated reactions in the soil N and P cycles, i.e. N2 fixation, mineralization of N and P, nitrification, ammonia volatilization and denitrification. As well, biochar provides reactive surfaces where N and P ions are retained in soil microbial biomass and in exchange sites, both of which modulate N and P availability to crops. Distinctions must be made between biochars derived from manure- and crop residue-based feedstocks versus biochars derived from ligno-cellulosic feedstock, as well as biochars produced at a lower production temperature (<400 °C) versus biochars generated at a higher production temperature (≥600 °C). These factors determine the nutrient retention capacity of biochars when they are applied to soil. For example, low bioavailable N and P concentrations are expected when coarse-textured soil is amended with biochar having a high surface area, necessitating fertilizer application to avoid N and P deficiencies in the crop. Since the biochemical cycling of N and P in biochar-amended soil is affected strongly by biochar × soil interactions, detailed assessment of biochar-induced changes in soil physico-chemical properties and biological processes may improve predictions of how diverse biochars will affect soil fertility and crop nutrition under site-specific conditions.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.soilbio.2016.08.001

Cites

148 of 148 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Biochar can influence nutrients in soil as a nutrient sink, impacting the mobility and bioavailability of nutrients.

    “(ii) as a nutrient sink, thereby impacting the mobility and bioavailability of nutrients (Gul and Whalen 2016);”

    From Biochar and its importance on nutrient dynamics in soil and plant (2020) · cites this paper as Gul and Whalen 2016

  • Biochar can reduce ortho-P leaching from nutrient-rich soil and influences P availability.

    “So, biochar can reduce ortho-P leaching from nutrient-rich soil and influences P availability (Gul and Whalen 2016;Hussain et al. 2017).”

    From Biochar and its importance on nutrient dynamics in soil and plant (2020) · cites this paper as Gul and Whalen 2016

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

4 of the 152 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gul, S., & Whalen, J. K.
Affiliations
  • University of Balochistan (PK)
  • Collège MacDonald (CA)
Corresponding author
Whalen, Joann K.
Venue
Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-12
Volume
103
Pages
1-15
ISSN
0038-0717 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2508171847
Cited by
519
References
152
Citations by year
2026: 40 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 83 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 22
FWCI
39.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Soil Biology and Biochemistry (publishedVersion)
Funders
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2383823-10)
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
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Phosphorus and nutrient management
Keywords
biochar, nitrogen cycling, phosphorus cycling, biochar-amended soil, nitrogen use efficiency, phosphorus use efficiency, nitrogen fixation, nitrification, ammonia volatilization, denitrification, nutrient mineralization, nutrient retention, biochar feedstock, pyrolysis temperature, soil fertility, crop nutrition

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review