Affiliations 

  • 1 UK Biochar Research Centre, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, United Kingdom; State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; Rangeland Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • 3 Department of Environmental Science, International Islamic University, Islamabad, 44000 Pakistan
  • 4 Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, International Islamic University, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 5 UK Biochar Research Centre, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, United Kingdom
  • 6 Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Branch Campus Malaysian Institute of Chemical & Bio-Engineering Technology (UniKL MICET), Lot 1988, Kawasan Perindustrian Bandar Vendor, Taboh Naning, 78000 Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia
  • 7 School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of NSW., Kensington, NSW Australia 2052
  • 8 Rangeland Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
  • 9 Department of Agronomy, University of Haripur, 22620, Pakistan
  • 10 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: shangzhh@lzu.edu.cn
  • 11 Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
  • 12 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: longrj@lzu.edu.cn
Sci Total Environ, 2020 May 15;717:135296.
PMID: 31839318 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135296

Abstract

Previous biochar research has primarily focused on agricultural annual cropping systems with very little attention given to highly fragile, complex and diverse natural alpine grassland ecosystems. The present study investigated the effect of biochar on the growth of alpine meadows and soil health. This study was conducted in the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau over a three year period to investigate the effect of three rice husk biochar application rates alone and combination with high and low NPK fertilizer dosages on alpine meadow productivity, soil microbial diversity as well as pH, carbon and nitrogen content at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depth. At the end of the 3rd year soil samples were analysed and assessed by combined analysis of variance. The results showed that biochar application in combination with nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer had a significant increase in fresh and dry biomass during the second and third year of the study as compared to control and alone biochar application (p ≤ 0.05). Biochar alone and in combination with NPK fertilizer resulted in a significant increase in the soil pH and carbon contents of the soil. XPS results, the SEM imaging and EDS analysis of aged biochar demonstrated that the biochar has undergone complex changes over the 3 years as compared to fresh biochar. This research suggests that biochar has positive effect on alpine meadow growth and soil health and may be an effective tool for alpine meadow restoration.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.