Improving the fertility of sandy soils in the temperate region by combined biochar and microbial inoculant treatments

ABSTRACT Achieving a sustainable increase in the fertility of sandy soils is a major problem. The application of biochar (BC) is a relatively new method, but results for a temperate climate are scarce. This work investigates various combined doses of BC and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria inoculants on the fertility of acidic and calcareous sandy soils, hypothesising that joint application could have a synergistic impact. The effects were followed by measuring chemical (pH, organic matter, nutrient availability) and microbiological properties of the soil and maize biomass. 30 t ha−1 BC increased both pH (by 1 unit) and nitrification in acidic soil (causing a 60% drop in NH4-N concentration), and the phosphorus and potassium availability (by 53 and 80%, respectively) in both soils. Substrate-induced respiration increased by up to 100% and 50% in acidic and calcareous soil, respectively, in treatments involving both BC and inoculant. In acidic soil a BC dose of 3 t ha−1 resulted in a 70% decrease in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal infection. Changes in maize grain yield were not significant, but the increase in above-ground biomass indicated that the combined application of BC and inoculant is more beneficial than separate application of these yield-increasing agents, primarily on acidic sand.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science

• Publication date

  2018-06-13

• Fields of study

  Agricultural and Food Sciences, Chemistry, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/03650340.2018.1482536
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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