ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Biochar Mitigates Greenhouse Gas Emissions
from an Acidic Tea Soil
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1
College of Resource and Environment, Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou, China
2
School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
3
Sinochem Agriculture Holdings, China
Submission date: 2018-10-18
Final revision date: 2018-11-06
Acceptance date: 2018-11-18
Online publication date: 2019-08-30
Publication date: 2019-10-23
Corresponding author
Yaojun Zhang
Henan University, Jinming Street, 475004 Kaifeng, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(1):323-330
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ABSTRACT
Acidic tea soil is an important greenhouse gas (GHG) emission source.Few studies have been done
to investigate the impact of alkaline biochar addition on acidicsoil GHG emissions. We carried out a
40-day aerobic incubation experiment to investigate the alkaline biochar amendment on carbon dioxide
(CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from an acidic tea soil under N application.
Soil samples were collected in the 0-15 cm layers from a tea orchard of Purple Mountain in Nanjing,
Jiangsu Province, China. The results showed that biochar amendment significantly increased soil pH,
dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and the ratio of DOC/TDN at the
end of incubation. N fertilization increased all three GHG emissions. In contrast, biochar amendment
significantly decreased soil CO2 and N2O emissions by 7.2-9.3% and 36.3-44.2%, respectively. Although
the interaction of biochar and N fertilizer on soil CO2 and CH4 emissions were not obvious, N2O
emissions were significantly affected by their interaction. Consistent with CO2 and N2O emissions,
the net GWP was significantly decreased by biochar addition. Overall, the present study suggests that
biochar amendment could be used as an effective management mitigating soil GHG emissions and the
net GWP from the acidic tea field soil.