The potential for biochar application in rubber plantations in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China: a pot trial
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The potential for biochar application in rubber plantations in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China: a pot trial Libing Pan1,2,3 · Fanzhen Xu1 · Huizhu Mo1 · Richard T. Corlett2 · Liqing Sha1 Received: 16 June 2020 / Accepted: 7 October 2020 © Shenyang Agricultural University 2020
Abstract Biochar can enhance crop production and sequester carbon, but there have been few studies with tree crops. Rubber plantations cover more than 8 million hectares in Southeast Asia, so we assessed the feasibility of biochar application in these plantations with a pot trial. Rubber seedlings were planted in soil with four concentrations (0, 1.25%, 2.5% and 5%, w/w) of biochar combined with two concentrations of compound fertilizer (0 kg/ha and 300 kg/ha). Soil properties and seedling growth were measured, and a leaching experiment was conducted in the rainy season. Our results show that biochar increased pH, water content (27.4–65.1%), total carbon (25.4–53.6%), nitrate nitrogen, and available phosphorus in the soil, and decreased bulk density (3.2–23.9%). Biochar treatment reduced leaching of ammonium nitrogen and ortho-P. Biochar increased seedling nutrient uptake (C, N, P and K), with 2.5% and 5% biochar showing the largest effects, but seedling biomass was the highest with 1.25%, and declined in 2.5% and 5%. Our results suggest that biochar addition is an effective way to improve rubber plantation soils, sequester more carbon and decrease nutrient leaching, but the optimum application rate under field conditions needs further research. Keywords Biochar · Soil properties · Nutrient leaching · Rubber seedlings · Biomass
1 Introduction Biochar is charcoal made from biomass by high-temperature pyrolysis. Recent interest in biochar reflects the evidence that its addition to soil can both enhance crop production and help to mitigate climate change. Mean biomass increased for agricultural crops in response to biochar additions have been 10–30% (Biederman and Harpole 2013; Jeffery et al. 2011), although few studies found a reduction (Haider et al. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-020-00072-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Liqing Sha [email protected] 1
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
2
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, Yunnan, China
3
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
2017; Rajkovich et al. 2012). A limited number of studies have focused on forests or tree crops, but short-term experiments on tree seedlings have found large positive responses, particularly for angiosperms and in the boreal and tropical regions (Thomas and Gale 2015). The mechanisms suggested for the improvement of growth include: (1) the initial input of soluble and easily mineralized nutrients (P
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