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Phosphorus availability from bone char in a P-fixing soil influenced by root-mycorrhizae-biochar interactions

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Abstract

Aims

The objectives of this study were to evaluate (1) the fertilizer potential of bone char, (2) the effects of wood biochar on plant-available phosphorus (P), and (3) the role of root-mycorrhizae-biochar interactions in plant P acquisition from a P-fixing soil.

Methods

Incubation and pot experiments were conducted with a P-fixing soil and maize with or without root hairs and arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) inoculation. Olsen-, resin-P and plant P accumulation were used to estimate P availability from bone char, co-pyrolyzed bone char-wood biochar, and separate bone char and wood biochar additions produced at 60, 350 and 750 °C, and Triple Superphosphate (TSP).

Results

Maize inoculated with AM showed similar P accumulation when fertilized with either 750 °C bone char or TSP. Pyrolyzing bone did not increase extractable P in soil in comparison to unpyrolyzed bone, apart from a 67 % increase in resin-extractable P after additions of bone char pyrolyzed at 350 °C. Despite greater Olsen-P extractability, co-pyrolysis of bone with wood reduced maize P uptake. Wood biochars reduced resin-P from bone char by 14–26 %, whereas oven-dried wood increased resin-P by 23 %.

Conclusions

Bone char is an effective P fertilizer, especially if root-AM interactions are simultaneously considered. Biochar influences plant access to soil P and requires careful management to improve P availability.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for support from the Towards Sustainability Foundation, CARE-Cornell Impact through Innovations Fund, McKnight Foundation, Bradfield Award, Fulbright and Huygens Talent Scholarship Program. We would also like to thank Cornell Center for Materials Research for help with X-ray Diffraction Analysis under NSF award number DMR-0520404, Berhanu Belay and Gebermedihin Ambaw for support in procuring the soil, and Dawit Solomon for help with data interpretation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, 909 Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Marie J. Zwetsloot, Johannes Lehmann, Steven Vanek & Rachel Hestrin

  2. Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, 168 Plant Science Building, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Taryn Bauerle

  3. Department of Natural Resource Management, Jimma University, 307, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Abebe Nigussie

Authors
  1. Marie J. Zwetsloot
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  2. Johannes Lehmann
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Correspondence to Johannes Lehmann.

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Zwetsloot, M.J., Lehmann, J., Bauerle, T. et al. Phosphorus availability from bone char in a P-fixing soil influenced by root-mycorrhizae-biochar interactions. Plant Soil 408, 95–105 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2905-2

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