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Heterogeneous global crop yield response to biochar: a meta-regression analysis
Open accessAbstract
Biochar may contribute to climate change mitigation at negative cost by sequestering photosynthetically fixed carbon in soil while increasing crop yields. The magnitude of biochar's potential in this regard will depend on crop yield benefits, which have not been well-characterized across different soils and biochars. Using data from 84 studies, we employ meta-analytical, missing data, and semiparametric statistical methods to explain heterogeneity in crop yield responses across different soils, biochars, and agricultural management factors, and then estimate potential changes in yield across different soil environments globally. We find that soil cation exchange capacity and organic carbon were strong predictors of yield response, with low cation exchange and low carbon associated with positive response. We also find that yield response increases over time since initial application, compared to non-biochar controls. High reported soil clay content and low soil pH were weaker predictors of higher yield response. No biochar parameters in our dataset—biochar pH, percentage carbon content, or temperature of pyrolysis—were significant predictors of yield impacts. Projecting our fitted model onto a global soil database, we find the largest potential increases in areas with highly weathered soils, such as those characterizing much of the humid tropics. Richer soils characterizing much of the world's important agricultural areas appear to be less likely to benefit from biochar.
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“The three biochar meta-analyses available to date [1,3,4] exclusively compared the effect of freshly produced biochar with that of the respective control, and did not account for composted or otherwise nutrient-enriched biochars.”
From Fourfold increase in pumpkin yield in response to low-dosage root zone application of urine-enhanced biochar to a fertile tropical soil (2015) · cites this paper as [1]
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“Contrary to the conclusions in other studies [1,36], the described and demonstrated methods are not only efficient on weathered and degraded soils in suboptimal agronomic systems but may have the potential to develop into a new, long-term perspective for more sustainable, climate-positive and nutrient efficient agriculture on already fertile soils, particularly in organic farming systems.”
From Fourfold increase in pumpkin yield in response to low-dosage root zone application of urine-enhanced biochar to a fertile tropical soil (2015) · cites this paper as [1]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Crane-Droesch, A., Abiven, S., Jeffery, S., & Torn, M. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Venue
- Environmental Research Letters
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Published
- 2013-12-01
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 044049
- ISSN
- 1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2095761197
- Cited by
- 297
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 10
- FWCI
- 26.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DEAC02-05CH11231, 1053575)
- U.S. Department of Energy (-AC02-05CH11231, 05CH11231, OCI-1053575, DE AC02 05CH11231, DE-AC02-)
- Office of Science (OCI-1053575, DEAC02–05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02, 05CH11231)
- Biological and Environmental Research (05CH11231, DE-AC02 − 05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231)
- 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 › Agronomy and Crop Science › Climate change impacts on agriculture
- Keywords
- biochar, crop yield response, soil carbon sequestration, cation exchange capacity, soil organic carbon, soil weathering, soil clay content, soil pH, pyrolysis temperature, biochar pH, climate change mitigation, agricultural management
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