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Climate Change 2016
October 27-29, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 9(Suppl) J Earth Sci Clim Change
ISSN: 2157-7617 JESCC, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
October 24-26, 2016 Valencia, Spain
World Conference onClimate Change
Biochar, compost and biochar-compost: Influences on yield performance, soil quality and greenhouse
gas emissions in agricultural soils
Getachew Agegnehu, Paul N Nelson and Michael I Bird
James Cook University, Australia
S oil nutrient depletion, declining agricultural productivity and climate change due to increased greenhouse gases emissions
threaten the ecology and sustainability of agricultural production in the tropics and subtropics. This study investigated the
effects of biochar and compost, applied individually or together, on soil fertility, crop yield and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes
in tropical agricultural Ferral-sols of north Queensland, Australia. The treatments comprised 1) control; 2)10 t ha-1 biochar;
3) 25 t compost ha-1; 4) 2.5 t biochar ha-1 + 25 t compost ha -1 mixed on site; and 5) 25 t ha-1 biochar and compost composted
together (COMBI). Application of biochar, compost and their mixture increased peanut yield by 17-24% and maize yield by
10-29% compared to fertilizer alone. Significant organic amendment-induced improvements to plant growth and soil available
nutrients were observed. Biochar, compost and their mixture significantly improved the availability of plant nutrients, which
appeared critical in improving crop performance. Soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water content, nitrate and ammonium
contents were significantly higher in biochar treated plots than fertilizer alone, implying that potential exposure of nitrate and
ammonium to the soil microbial community was significantly lower in biochar and COMBI plots compared to the fertilizer
only and compost treatments. Emissions of CO2 were highest in the fertilizer treatment and lowest in the COMBI treatment,
whereas N2 O flux was highest in the fertilizer treatment and all amended plots reduced N2O flux compared to the control. In
summary, applications of biochar and compost either singly or in combination have strong potential to improve SOC, soil
nutrient status, soil moisture content crop yield and reduce GHG fluxes on tropical agricultural soils. However, the amount of
conventional fertilizer that could be reduced and the resultant economic benefit because of addition of these amendments need
further study for longer-term economic and environmental sustainability.
Biography
Getachew Agegnehu is currently working at James Cook University, Australia. Getachew Agegnehu research interests are Ecosystems and climate change, Air
Quality, Atmospheric Science and Climate Science etc.
Getachew Agegnehu et al., J Earth Sci Clim Change 2016, 7:9(Suppl)