Amendment of Acid Soils with Crop Residues and Biochars

• Published in: Pedosphere Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 302 - 308
• Main Authors: YUAN, Jin-Hua, XU, Ren-Kou, WANG, Ning, LI, Jiu-Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2011; Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,(China)%State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture,Institute of Soil Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210008,(China); State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture,Institute of Soil Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210008,(China)
• Subjects: alkalinity; exchangeable base cations; inorganic N; liming potential; Oryza sativa; soil acidity; 作物; 修订; 土壤酸度; 植物材料; 残留物; 盐基阳离子; 盐基饱和度; 酸性土壤; inorganic N; alkalinity; soil acidity; exchangeable base cations; liming potential
• ISSN: 1002-0160; 2210-5107
• DOI: 10.1016/S1002-0160(11)60130-6

The liming potential of some crop residues and their biochars on an acid Ultisol was investigated using incubation experiments. Rice hulls showed greater liming potential than rice hull biochar, while soybean and pea straws had less liming potential than their biochars. Due to their higher alkalinity, biochars from legume materials increased soil pH much compared to biochars from non-legume materials. The alkalinity of biochars was a key factor affecting their liming potential, and the greater alkalinity of biochars led to greater reductions in soil acidity. The incorporation of biochars decreased soil exchangeable acidity and increased soil exchangeable base cations and base saturation, thus improving soil fertility.