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Lehmann Lab

Section of Soil and Crop Sciences

Biochar

Our projects on biochar started in the late 1990s with greenhouse and field experiments in the Amazon that examined the ability of retaining nutrients and improving crop production on acid and highly weathered soil. At the same time, we examined Terra Preta de Indio soils for their ability to provide plant-available nutrients, retain nutrients and change the way organic carbon cycles in soil. Since 2004, we have been working on quantifying the global potential of biochar systems to mitigate climate change. Previous projects include studies on the persistence of biochar, its effects on mineralization of other organic carbon in soil, nutrient leaching, gaseous loss, signaling between microorganisms and plants, as well as electrochemistry. Check out our pyrolysis website.

 

Recent insights include:

Biochar can capture large amounts of ammonia gas, creating biochars with higher nitrogen contents than even animal manures.

High-temperature biochar can very rapidly conduct electrons, which may facilitate metabolism of microbes and plants when added to soil.

Biochar increases crop yields as much as inorganic fertilizers. (global meta analysis)

Featured recent publication: Ye L, Camps-Arbestain M, Shen Q, Lehmann J, Singh B, Sabir M 2020 Biochar effects on crop yields with and without fertilizer: A meta-analysis of field studies using separate controls. Soil Use and Management 36, 2-18 (supporting online material)

 

In the next few years, we will mainly focus on the following questions:

How does biochar affect plant-microbe and plant-plant communication?

How can we design biochars with large capacity to remove phosphate?

Under what conditions can biochar systems mitigate environmental issues in the dairy industry and be economically viable?

 

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