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Biochar applied to consolidated land increased the quality of an acid surface soil and tobacco crop in Southern China

  • Biochar and Agricultural Sustainability (SI APBC 2018)
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Soil needs to be ameliorated after land consolidation because this process might decrease soil fertility, soil physical properties, and the growth of microbes, and the application of biochar is one of the soil amelioration methods. However, up to date, no relevant study has been conducted by any field experiment. The objective of this study was to investigate the biochar effect on soil improvement and crop quality.

Materials and methods

A field experiment with 5 corn stover biochar application rates (0, 1, 5, 10, 20 Mg ha−1) was conducted in an acid soil (Kandiudult soil in US taxonomy) with flue-cured tobacco as representative crop.

Results and discussion

The results showed that in comparison with 0 Mg ha−1 biochar treatment, the application of biochar decreased the soil bulk density by 13.22%, increased the > 2-mm water-stable soil aggregates by 27.38%, and the 0.25 to 2.00-mm soil aggregates by 45.57% at most. The soil pH, organic carbon, labile organic carbon, and exchangeable Ca and Mg contents increased with increasing biochar application rate. The application of biochar was also beneficial for soil microbial activities. For example, the abundance of actinomyces increased with the biochar application rate, and the maximum increase of 342.28% was recorded at the biochar application rate of 20 Mg ha−1. The application of biochar decreased the total sugar and reducing sugar contents and increased the leaf K content, thus greatly improving the leaf quality of flue-cured tobacco.

Conclusions

Biochar applied to consolidated acid soil can play a positive role in flue-cured tobacco production and soil amelioration with regard to soil physical properties and soil nutrient supply capacity. On consolidated land, this is the first study about the effect of biochar application on quality of acid soil and crop, which strengthens the understanding about the role of biochar in soil improvement on consolidated land.

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Abbreviations

B2F:

15th to 19th leaf position

C3F:

9th to 14th leaf position

Cl:

Chlorine

K:

Potassium

LOC:

Labile organic carbon

SOC:

Soil organic carbon

SW:

Shannon-Wiener

X2F:

5th to 8th leaf position

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the financial support from the (Chinese) Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP-TRIC03).

Funding

This work was supported by the (Chinese) Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program [ASTIP-TRIC03].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Keyuan Jinsilu, 11, Qingdao, 266101, People’s Republic of China

    Jiuquan Zhang & Jiguang Zhang

  2. Sanming Tobacco Company of Fujian Province, Sanming, 365000, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    Yilan Huang & Jianqi Lin

  3. Biochar Research Center, Bijie Tobacco Company of Guizhou Province, Bijie, 551700, Guizhou, People’s Republic of China

    Xue Chen & Caibin Li

Authors
  1. Jiuquan Zhang
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  2. Yilan Huang
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  4. Xue Chen
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  5. Caibin Li
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  6. Jiguang Zhang
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Correspondence to Jiuquan Zhang.

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Responsible editor: Jianming Xue

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Zhang, J., Huang, Y., Lin, J. et al. Biochar applied to consolidated land increased the quality of an acid surface soil and tobacco crop in Southern China. J Soils Sediments 20, 3091–3102 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02531-z

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