TY - JOUR
T1 - Combined effects of biochar and fertilizer applications on yield
T2 - A review and meta-analysis
AU - Bai, Shahla Hosseini
AU - Omidvar, Negar
AU - Gallart, Marta
AU - Kämper, Wiebke
AU - Tahmasbian, Iman
AU - Farrar, Michael B.
AU - Singh, Kanika
AU - Zhou, Guiyao
AU - Muqadass, Bushra
AU - Xu, Cheng Yuan
AU - Koech, Richard
AU - Li, Yujuan
AU - Nguyen, Thi Thu Nhan
AU - van Zwieten, Lukas
N1 - Funding Information:
Thanks to authors whose published data was used in this meta-analysis. SHB received a merit grant from Central Queensland University to undertake this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/2/20
Y1 - 2022/2/20
N2 - The use of biochar is changing, and the combined application of biochar with fertilizer is increasingly gaining acceptance. However, the yield gains results reported in the existing literature through the co-application of fertilizer with biochar are conflicting. To resolve this, we utilized a meta-analysis of 627 paired data points extracted from 57 published articles to assess the performance of the co-application of biochar and fertilizers on crop yield compared with the corresponding controls. We also studied the impact of biochar characteristics, experimental conditions, and soil properties on crop yield. Our analysis showed that individually, biochar and inorganic fertilizer increased crop yield by 25.3% ± 3.2 (Bootstrap CI 95%) and 21.9% ± 4.4, respectively. The co-application of biochar with both inorganic and organic fertilizers increased crop yield by 179.6% ± 18.7, however, this data needs to be treated with caution due to the limited dataset. The highest yield increase was observed with amendments to very acidic soils (pH ≤5), but the benefits of biochar were not affected by the rate and the time after the application. In addition, the effects of biochar are enhanced when it is produced at 401–500 °C with a C:N ratio of 31–100. Our results suggest that the co-application of biochar with either inorganic and/or organic fertilizers in acidic soils increase crop productivity compared to amendment with either fertilizer or biochar. Our meta-analysis supports the utilization of biochar to enhance the efficiency and profitability of fertilizers.
AB - The use of biochar is changing, and the combined application of biochar with fertilizer is increasingly gaining acceptance. However, the yield gains results reported in the existing literature through the co-application of fertilizer with biochar are conflicting. To resolve this, we utilized a meta-analysis of 627 paired data points extracted from 57 published articles to assess the performance of the co-application of biochar and fertilizers on crop yield compared with the corresponding controls. We also studied the impact of biochar characteristics, experimental conditions, and soil properties on crop yield. Our analysis showed that individually, biochar and inorganic fertilizer increased crop yield by 25.3% ± 3.2 (Bootstrap CI 95%) and 21.9% ± 4.4, respectively. The co-application of biochar with both inorganic and organic fertilizers increased crop yield by 179.6% ± 18.7, however, this data needs to be treated with caution due to the limited dataset. The highest yield increase was observed with amendments to very acidic soils (pH ≤5), but the benefits of biochar were not affected by the rate and the time after the application. In addition, the effects of biochar are enhanced when it is produced at 401–500 °C with a C:N ratio of 31–100. Our results suggest that the co-application of biochar with either inorganic and/or organic fertilizers in acidic soils increase crop productivity compared to amendment with either fertilizer or biochar. Our meta-analysis supports the utilization of biochar to enhance the efficiency and profitability of fertilizers.
KW - A sum of Akaike weights
KW - Fertilizer use efficiency
KW - Nutrient stoichiometry
KW - Pyrolysis
KW - Soil constraint
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120914037&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152073
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152073
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34863750
AN - SCOPUS:85120914037
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 808
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 152073
ER -
