Abstract
There appears to be an increasing demand for quality food and fodder to ensure environmental safety. Although chemical fertilizers and pesticides are widely used to increase crop yield and plant protection, the unauthorized and injudicious use of chemicals negatively affects native flora and fauna and depletes natural soil fertility, culminating in quality loss, climate crisis, and global warming. Recently, there has been a lot of focus on using biochar to improve soil health, mitigate soil degradation, and control soil and water pollution because biochar restores ecosystems and enhances soil quality. Biochar is a solid, carbon-rich material with a high surface area and improved nutrient content that exhibits slow nutrient release properties obtained through the pyrolysis of various biochar-based environmental materials. Sustainable biochar release in the soil can improve plant growth through nutrient use efficiencies, enhancing beneficial plant–microbe interactions, and plant protection. The current review summarizes the properties and cost-effective production technologies of quality biochar, sustainable application, action mechanisms for improving soil properties, and prominent plant–microbe interactions for enhanced plant growth and survival under climate-smart agriculture. Biochar’s agronomic potential in the soil is affected by physical and chemical properties, such as surface area, particle density, and pore size distribution, as well as pH, electrical conductivity, total and plant-available concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, cation exchange capacity, and certain minor nutrients. Additionally, the essential requirements of healthy soil and associated attributes of good agricultural practices are addressed, along with the key benefits, limitations, and opportunities of biochar application for enhancing sustainability in agriculture.
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Data Availability
The data that supports the findings of this study are available in the main manuscript and in the electronic supplementary information files. Further, the data may also be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- AMF:
-
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
- BCF:
-
Biochar compound fertilizer
- BNF:
-
Biological nitrogen fixation
- Corg:
-
Soil organic carbon
- CEC:
-
Cation exchange capacity
- CFU:
-
Colony forming unit
- DOC:
-
Dissolved organic carbon
- EBC:
-
European Biochar Certificate
- Kexchang :
-
Exchangeable potassium
- FYM:
-
Farmyard manure
- GHG:
-
Greenhouse gas
- HTC:
-
Hydrothermal carbonization
- IBI:
-
International Biochar Initiative
- MRLs:
-
Maximum residue limits
- MWD:
-
Mean weight diameter
- PGPR:
-
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria
- SOM:
-
Soil organic matter
- TLS:
-
Total link strength
- Ntot :
-
Total nitrogen
- WHC:
-
Water holding capacity
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Acknowledgements
The principal of NNS College, Titabar, Jorhat, Assam, India, is heartily thanked by the corresponding author for giving the logistic and support. The corresponding author appreciated the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, for granting research funds for Institutional Biotech Hub (BT/NER/143/SP44344/2021) at NNS College, under the NER Biotech Hub Programme.
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PNB: conception and design of the research and graphical representations, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and writing of the original manuscript, validated, revised the final manuscript, formatted, and submission.
SPS: gathering of information and generated the data, assisted in the preparation of original manuscript.
BS: preparation of graphical representation and figures, assisted in the manuscript writing.
AKP: revised the original manuscript and data collection.
JD: gathering of information and generated the idea for original manuscript preparation.
KM: assisted in data generation and reference arrangement.
DL: assisted in the revision of the original draft.
BCN: assisted in the revision of the manuscript.
DJB: assisted in the construction of functional groups through ChemDraw.
DJB: assisted in the preparation of network visualization maps for scientometric analysis.
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Pranaba Nanda Bhattacharyya and Sosanka Protim Sandilya are considered co-first authors.
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Bhattacharyya, P.N., Sandilya, S.P., Sarma, B. et al. Biochar as Soil Amendment in Climate-Smart Agriculture: Opportunities, Future Prospects, and Challenges. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 24, 135–158 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-01629-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-01629-9