Effects of biochar application on phreatic water evaporation and water-salt distribution in coastal saline soil

• Published in: Journal of plant nutrition Vol. 42; no. 10; pp. 1243 - 1253
• Main Authors: Yang, Runya, Zhou, Cuixiang, Zhu, Jinjin, Pan, Yinghua, Sun, Junna, Zhang, Zhenhua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 15.06.2019; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: application rate; Charcoal; Coastal environments; Coastal waters; Evaporation; Evaporation rate; Groundwater; maize biochar; Moisture content; saline soil; Saline soils; Saline water; salt accumulation; Salts; Sodium; Soil columns; Soil conditions; Soil surfaces; Soil water; water evaporation; water migration; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0190-4167; 1532-4087
• DOI: 10.1080/01904167.2019.1605379

A 35-day simulated evaporation experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of biochar application on phreatic water evaporation and water-salt distribution in coastal saline soil. Three biochar rates (0, 1%, and 5%; w/w) were applied to 65-cm-long soil columns. Results showed that applying the low biochar application rate effectively inhibited soil water evaporation. The 1% biochar treatment resulted in 4.4% lower cumulative soil water evaporation compared with the control, while it caused salt accumulation in the surface soil. By contrast, the high biochar application rate had little effect on cumulative soil water evaporation. Nonetheless, the 5% biochar treatment significantly increased the soil water-holding capacity while decreasing sodium adsorption ratio and salinity in the surface soil. In conclusion, applying a higher biochar rate (e.g., 5%) could improve salt water-distribution in the coastal saline soil under the experimental conditions.