Does biochar improve soil water retention? A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Geoderma Vol. 361; p. 114055
• Main Authors: Razzaghi, Fatemeh, Obour, Peter Bilson, Arthur, Emmanuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2020
• Subjects: biochar; Biochar added carbon; Biochar characteristics; Bulk density; carbon; case studies; coarse-textured soils; crop production; Experimental conditions; field capacity; fine-textured soils; meta-analysis; plant available water; soil amendments; soil density; Soil textural classes; soil texture; Soil water content; soil water retention; systematic review; water content; wilting; wilting point; Bulk density; Experimental conditions; Soil textural classes; Biochar added carbon; Biochar characteristics; Soil water content
• ISSN: 0016-7061; 1872-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114055

•We reviewed biochar effect on soil density and water retention parameters.•Biochar significantly increased water content at field capacity for the coarse-textured soils.•Improvement in plant available water content decreased with soil fineness.•‘Biochar carbon added’ parameter is proposed for robust comparison of different biochar-soil studies. Biochar is widely suggested as a soil amendment to improve soil physical properties for crop production. However, the heterogeneity between experiments in terms of biochar characteristics, experimental conditions and soil properties makes it difficult to compare and extrapolate results from different studies. We conducted a statistical meta-analysis of literature published between 2010 and 2019, and quantified biochar’s impacts on soil bulk density (BD) and water retention variables, namely, soil water content held at field capacity (FC), wilting point (WP) and plant available water content (AW). Across all soil textural groups, biochar on average decreased BD by 9%. FC and WP significantly increased for the coarse-textured soils (by 51% and 47%, respectively), and moderately for the medium-textured soils (by 13% and 9%, respectively). For the fine-textured soils, FC remained unchanged (<1%), but WP marginally decreased by 5%. Biochar significantly increased AW in the coarse-textured soils (by 45%) compared to the medium- and fine-textured soils (by 21% and 14%, respectively) suggesting that biochar may have greater benefit on coarse-textured soils. We introduced a novel parameter called ‘biochar carbon added’, estimated from biochar carbon content and the rate of application, which can be useful to make a sound comparison of biochar impacts on soil physical properties reported in different case studies when variable biochar attributes, experimental conditions and soil types have been used. The meta-analysis highlights again the need to provide adequate information on biochar experiments and soil water retention variables to allow better elucidation of the underlying mechanisms of biochar’s impact on soil water retention and more.