Assessing potential of biochar for increasing water‐holding capacity of sandy soils

• Published in: Global change biology. Bioenergy Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 132 - 143
• Main Authors: Basso, Andres S., Miguez, Fernando E., Laird, David A., Horton, Robert, Westgate, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2013
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Agriculture; biochar; Bulk density; Calcium chloride; Charcoal; Crops; Economic growth; Gardner's function; Irrigation; Leaching; Loam; Loam soils; Moisture content; Oxidation; Pyrolysis; Retention; Sandy loam; Sandy soils; Soil amendment; Soil improvement; Soil treatment; Soil water; Topsoil; water balance; Water content; Water depth; water retention curves; Water use; water‐holding capacity; United States > US; Iowa

Increasing the water‐holding capacity of sandy soils will help improve efficiency of water use in agricultural production, and may be critical for providing enough energy and food for an increasing global population. We hypothesized that addition of biochar will increase the water‐holding capacity o...