Biochar amendment to coarse sandy subsoil improves root growth and increases water retention
Abstract
Abstract Crop yields and yield potentials on D anish coarse sandy soils are strongly limited due to restricted root growth and poor water and nutrient retention. We investigated if biochar amendment to subsoil can improve root development in barley and significantly increase soil water retention. S pring barley ( H ordeum vulgare cv. Anakin) was grown in soil columns (diameter: 30 cm) prepared with 25 cm topsoil, 75 cm biochar‐amended subsoil, and 30 cm un‐amended subsoil lowermost placed on an impervious surface. Low‐temperature gasification straw‐biochar (at 0, 0.50, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 wt%) and slow pyrolysis hardwood‐biochar (at 2 wt%) were investigated. One wt% can be scaled up to 10 2 Mg/ha of char. After full irrigation and drainage, the in‐situ moisture content at 30‐80 cm depth increased linearly ( R 2 = 0.99) with straw‐biochar content at a rate corresponding to 0.029 m 3 /m 3 /%. The lab determined wilting point also increased linearly with char content (R 2 = 0.99) but at a much lower rate (0.003 m 3 /m 3 /%). Biochar at concentrations up to 2% significantly increased the density of roots in the 40–80 cm depth interval. Addition of 1% straw‐biochar had the most positive effect on root penetration resulting in the highest average root density (54% coverage compared to 33% without biochar). This treatment also resulted in the greatest spring barley grain yield increase (22%). Improving the quality of sandy subsoils has global potentials, and incorporation of the right amount of correctly treated residues from bioenergy technologies such as straw‐biochar is a promising option.
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Biochar addition to agricultural soils has improved soil water availability, water holding capacity, nutrient availability, increased soil microbial biomass and activity, reduced risk of crust formation and soil erosion, enhanced antibacterial activity, and reduced mobility and toxicity of environmental pollutants.
“Biochar addition to agricultural soils has improved soil water availability, water holding capacity, and nutrient availability,235, 236, 237 increased soil microbial biomass and activity,238 reduced risk of crust formation and soil erosion,239 enhanced antibacterial activity,240 and reduced mobility and toxicity of environmental pollutants in the soil.241,242”
From Technologies and perspectives for achieving carbon neutrality (2021) · cites this paper as [235]
Biochar addition improves soil water holding capacity and plant available water in loamy and sandy loam soils.
“With regard to soil physical properties, biochar addition improved soil water holding capacity (WHC) and plant available water (PAW) in both loamy and sandy loam soils (Bruun et al., 2014;Dugan et al., 2010;Martinsen et al., 2014).”
From Biochar improves maize growth by alleviation of nutrient stress in a moderately acidic low-input Nepalese soil (2018) · cites this paper as Bruun et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Bruun, E. W., Petersen, C. T., Hansen, E., Holm, J. K., & Hauggaard‐Nielsen, H.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Ørsted (Denmark) (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Hauggaard‐Nielsen, H.
- Venue
- Soil Use and Management
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-02-07
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 109-118
- ISSN
- 0266-0032 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2743
- OpenAlex
- W2004363624
- Cited by
- 301
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 30.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Soil Use and Management (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Soil and Unsaturated Flow
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Management and Crop Yield
- Keywords
- biochar amendment, root growth, soil water retention, spring barley, straw biochar, root density, wilting point, grain yield, soil depth
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