Biochar Application Does Not Improve the Biochemical Properties of Ni Contaminated Soil
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Biochar Application Does Not Improve the Biochemical Properties of Ni Contaminated Soil Camari Divuniwaqa Mailakeba1 · B. K. Rajashekhar Rao1 Received: 2 May 2020 / Accepted: 16 September 2020 / Published online: 22 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Waste disposal, metal plating, refineries, and mining operations frequently contaminate soils with nickel (Ni). We explored the effects of artificial Ni contamination (0, 56, and 180 mg Ni kg−1) on the soil biochemical indices. The lab experiment also investigated the possible use of kunai grass (Imperata cylindrica) biochar at a 0.75% dry weight basis to alleviate contamination effects. The biochemical indices such as dehydrogenase enzyme activity, acid phosphatase enzyme activity, and soil respiration rates were monitored in three replications. High level of Ni (180 mg kg−1) suppressed soil respiration rate by 37% and dehydrogenase activity by 62% up to 15 days. The acid phosphatase activity was not affected by Ni levels and was insensitive to Ni contamination. Biochar application to the Ni contaminated soil did not improve the soil’s key biological properties. The beneficial effects of biochar could be limited to improvements in soil chemical properties and not on index biological properties. Keywords Acid phosphatase activity · Contamination · Dehydrogenase activity · Kunai grass biochar · Soil respiration rate Anthropogenic pollution of soil matrix by heavy metals (metalloids) is one of the greatest concerns in environmental management due to the non-degradable nature of metals and their extreme toxicity to biota. Nickel (Ni), a heavy metal, is used in numerous industrial activities and processes such as mining, cement manufacture, and smelting industries. The major sources of Ni contamination in the soil are metal plating industries, combustion of fossil fuels, and nickel mining and electroplating (Liu et al. 2019). Besides, aerial deposition of dust, improper disposal of a variety of industrial wastes and discharges, sewage sludge and phosphate fertilizers, may lead to Ni contamination in soils and can enter into plants or animals (Tsadilas et al. 2018). Ni is highly toxic, potentially carcinogenic in nature and hence is ranked 58 in the list of Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (ATSDR 2019). Geogenicand anthropogenic sources, geographical and ecological distribution, effects in the environmental matrices, interaction with biota, transformation and remediation of the heavy * B. K. Rajashekhar Rao [email protected] 1
Department of Agriculture, PNG University of Technology, PMB, Lae 411, Papua New Guinea
metals (metalloids) such as Hg, Cd, Cr, Pb, As, Se are many (Mishra et al. 2017; Rai et al. 2019). However, heavy metals like nickel (Ni) are least studied. In general, farm soils have traces of Ni with an average value of 40 mg k g−1 (Rodak et al. 2015), in exceptional cases as high as 1000 mg kg−1 soil, but
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