Biochar-induced concomitant decrease in ammonia volatilization and increase in nitrogen use efficiency by wheat

Sanchita Mandal; Ramya Thangarajan; Nanthi S Bolan; Binoy Sarkar; Naser Khan; Yong Sik Ok; Ravi Naidu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.04.086

Biochar-induced concomitant decrease in ammonia volatilization and increase in nitrogen use efficiency by wheat

Chemosphere. 2016 Jan:142:120-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.04.086. Epub 2015 May 7.

Authors

Sanchita Mandal¹, Ramya Thangarajan², Nanthi S Bolan², Binoy Sarkar², Naser Khan³, Yong Sik Ok⁴, Ravi Naidu⁵

Affiliations

¹ CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
² CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia.
³ CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia; NBE, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia.
⁴ Korea Biochar Research Center & Department of Biological Environment, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Republic of Korea.
⁵ CERAR, Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, Building-X, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia; CRC CARE, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, P.O. Box 486, Salisbury, SA 5106, Australia; Global Institute for Environmental Remediation, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.

PMID: 25959224
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.04.086

Abstract

Ammonia (NH3) volatilization is a major nitrogen (N) loss from the soil, especially under tropical conditions, NH3 volatilization results in low N use efficiency by crops. Incubation experiments were conducted using five soils (pH 5.5-9.0), three N sources such as, urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and poultry manure (PM) and two biochars such as, poultry litter biochar (PL-BC) and macadamia nut shell biochar (MS-BC). Ammonia volatilization was higher at soil with higher pH (pH exceeding 8) due to the increased hydroxyl ions. Among the N sources, urea recorded the highest NH3 volatilization (151.6 mg kg(-1)soil) followed by PM (124.2 mg kg(-1)soil) and DAP (99 mg kg(-1)soil). Ammonia volatilization was reduced by approximately 70% with PL-BC and MS-BC. The decreased NH3 volatilization with biochars is attributed to multiple mechanisms such as NH3 adsorption/immobilization, and nitrification. Moreover, biochar increased wheat dry weight and N uptake as high as by 24.24% and 76.11%, respectively. This study unravels the immense potential of biochar in decreasing N volatilization from soils and simultaneously improving use efficiency by wheat.

Keywords: Ammonia volatilization; Biochar; Nitrogen dynamics; PH; Urea; Wheat.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Ammonia / chemistry*
Animals
Biological Transport / drug effects
Charcoal / pharmacology*
Manure / analysis
Nitrogen / metabolism*
Poultry
Soil / chemistry*
Triticum / drug effects*
Triticum / metabolism*
Volatilization

Substances

Manure
Soil
biochar
Charcoal
Ammonia
Nitrogen