Biochar effect on maize yield and soil characteristics in five conservation farming sites in Zambia
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Biochar addition to agricultural soils can improve soil fertility, with the added bonus of climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration. Conservation farming (CF) is precision farming, often combining minimum tillage, crop rotation and residue retention. In the present farmer-led field trials carried out in Zambia, the use of a low dosage biochar combined with CF minimum tillage was tested as a way to increase crop yields. Using CF minimum tillage allows the biochar to be applied to the area where most of the plant roots are present and mirrors the fertilizer application in CF practices. The CF practice used comprised manually hoe-dug planting 10-L sized basins, where 10%–12% of the land was tilled. Pilot trials were performed with maize cob biochar and wood biochar on five soils with variable physical/chemical characteristics. At a dosage as low as 4 tons/ha, both biochars had a strong positive effect on maize yields in the coarse white aeolian sand of Kaoma, West-Zambia, with yields of 444% ± 114% (p = 0.06) and 352% ± 139% (p = 0.1) of the fertilized reference plots for maize and wood biochar, respectively. Thus for sandy acidic soils, CF and biochar amendment can be a promising combination for increasing harvest yield. Moderate but non-significant effects on yields were observed for maize and wood biochar in a red sandy clay loam ultisol east of Lusaka, central Zambia (University of Zambia, UNZA, site) with growth of 142% ± 42% (p > 0.2) and 131% ± 62% (p > 0.2) of fertilized reference plots, respectively. For three other soils (acidic and neutral clay loams and silty clay with variable cation exchange capacity, CEC), no significant effects on maize yields were observed (p > 0.2). In laboratory trials, 5% of the two biochars were added to the soil samples in order to study the effect of the biochar on physical and chemical soil characteristics. The large increase in crop yield in Kaoma soil was tentatively explained by a combination of an increased base saturation (from <50% to 60%–100%) and cation exchange capacity (CEC; from 2–3 to 5–9 cmol/kg) and increased plant-available water (from 17% to 21%) as well as water vapor uptake (70 mg/g on maize cob biochar at 50% relative humidity).
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Many recent studies have documented a number of benefits with biochar amendment to soil, including increased cation exchange capacity (CEC), reduced N leaching, enhanced microbial proliferation, liming, and other advantages.
“Many recent studies have documented a number of benefits with biochar amendment to soil, including increased cation exchange capacity (CEC), reduced N leaching, enhanced microbial proliferation, liming, and other advantages (Cornelissen et al., 2013;Kloss et al., 2014;Lehmann et al., 2011b;Mia et al., 2014;Ventura et al., 2012).”
From Biochar implications for sustainable agriculture and environment: A review (2019) · cites this paper as Cornelissen et al., 2013
Biochar increased the amount of water retained at field capacity to a larger extent than water held at permanent wilting point, thereby increasing plant available water.
“while the amount of water retained at field capacity improved to a larger extent compared to the water held at permanent wilting point, i.e. increased the plant available water.”
From Biochar implications for sustainable agriculture and environment: A review (2019) · cites this paper as Cornelissen et al., 2013
Biochar somewhat improved the permanent wilting point.
“biochar somewhat improved the permanent wilting point (Abel et al., 2013;Cornelissen et al., 2013)”
From Biochar implications for sustainable agriculture and environment: A review (2019) · cites this paper as Cornelissen et al., 2013
The three biochar meta-analyses available to date 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.
“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 [4]
The biochar in the Zambian trial was applied fresh from production and was not enhanced with organic nutrients.
“However, the biochar in the Zambian trial was applied fresh from production and was not enhanced with organic nutrients; it can therefore be assumed that the application rate might be further decreased when the root zone application is performed with nutrient-enhanced biochar slurry [38,39].”
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 [4]
In Zambia, biochar produced from maize cobs was applied at only 4 t/ha in hoe-dug pits before seeding maize; this increased harvests by up to a factor of four in a weathered acidic sandy soil.
“In Zambia, biochar produced from maize cobs was applied at only 4 t•ha -1 in hoe-dug pits before seeding maize; this increased harvests by up to a factor of four in a weathered acidic sandy soil [4].”
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 [4]
A recent meta-analysis of 60 published biochar field trials revealed that the average yield increase in crop production was around 18%.
“A recent meta-analysis of 60 published biochar field trials [4] revealed that the average yield increase in crop production was around 18%.”
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 [4]
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The potential of biochar in improving drainage, aeration and maize yields in heavy clay soils
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Self-citationApplications of biomass derived biochar in modern science and technology
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- Authors
- Cornelissen, G., Martinsen, V., Shitumbanuma, V., Alling, V., Breedveld, G., Rutherford, D., Sparrevik, M., Hale, S., Obia, A., & Mulder, J.
- Affiliations
- Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NO)
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
- University of Zambia (ZM)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cornelissen, Gerard
- ORCID
- Venue
- Agronomy
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2013-04-11
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 256-274
- ISSN
- 2073-4395 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1969496666
- Cited by
- 295
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 24.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Agronomy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Newcastle University
- Norges Forskningsråd (217918)
- U.S. Geological Survey
- Direktoratet for Utviklingssamarbeid
- 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, maize yield, conservation agriculture, reduced tillage, wood biochar, soil fertility, cation exchange capacity, base saturation, soil water retention, carbon sequestration, Zambia, soil amendment, Ultisol, crop rotation, residue retention, climate change mitigation, soil physicochemical properties
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