CARDOSO, E. M. C.

DOUMER, M. E.

MANGRICH, A. S.

NOVOTNY, E. H.

ROMÃO, L. P. C.

SHULTZ, J.

English

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Effect of biochar on the water holding capacity of the Brazilian soils 1 exemplified by sandy Northeast soil 2 Estela M. C. Cardoso (PG)1*, Marta E. Doumer (PG)1, Juliana Shultz (PG)1, 3 Antonio S. Mangrich (PQ)1,2, Luciane P. C. Romão (PQ)2 e Etelvino H. Novotny 4 (PQ)3. *estelamcc@gmail.com  5  6 1. Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Paraná, UFPR, 81531-980 7 Curitiba, PR, Brazil; 2. Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Sergipe, 8 49100-000, São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil. 3. Embrapa Soils, Jardim Botânico, 9 22460-000, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.  10  11  12 Abstract 13 The northeastern of Brazil is a semi-arid region has with a dry and warm 14 climate with rains that are concentrated between February and May. This bad 15 distribution of rainfall over time, combined with intense insolation, results in: a 16 lower soil water retention capacity; water infiltration to a deeper soil levels; rapid 17 evaporation; and deficiency of water during the main part rest of the year. In this 18 work, we propose the use of soil organic conditioners, derived from agricultural 19 and industrial biomass wastes, in order to improve soil water holding capacity 20 (WHC). Five biochars, prepared by slow pyrolysis at low temperature (heating 21 to 350 °C at 5 °C min-1), were produced from green coconut shells (CS), orange 22 peel (OP), palm oil bunch (PO), sugarcane bagasse (SB), and water hyacinth 23 plants (WH). Charcoal fines, known as coal residue (CR), obtained from the 24 metallurgical industry was another studied sample. The soil investigated was 25 dystrophic podzols, denoted as PD, collected in the Reserva do Caju – Campus 26 Experimental Embrapa Itaporanga, Sergipe, Brazil. The treatments were 5% 27 (w/w, equivalent to a biochar rate of 120 Mg ha-1) of each biochar and a control 28 without biochar. The WHC was determined by wetting/drying cycles (Case et 29 al., 2012). This application rate was calculated assuming 12 cm of soil depth 30 and bulk density of 1.2 g cm3. The soil-biochar mixtures were placed in PVC 31 tubes (W = 50 mm; H = 75 mm). Then the mixtures were saturated with water 32 for one hour, allowed to drain for three hours in a sealed plastic buckets and 33 subsequently dried in an oven (~60 °C). All the biochars increased the WHC, 34 compared to the control. The biochars that provided the best water retention 35 were CS, PO, WH e SB (increases of 41, 41, 41 and 47 %, respectively). These 36 results could be explained by the polarity of the biochars, as shown by their 37 hydrophilicity, measured by 13C NMR spectroscopy, as well as by the increased 38 presence of micropores that could physically retain water (revealed by SEM 39 analyses). The use of biochars could therefore contribute to alleviating hydric 40 stress in semi-arid regions of Brazil. 41  42 Keywords: biochar, drying-wetting cycles, WHC, semi-arid 43 

Effect of biochar on the water holding capacity of the Brazilian soils exemplified by sandy Northeast soil.

http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/bitstream/doc/1034191/1/2015124.pdf

Effect of biochar on the water holding capacity of the Brazilian soils exemplified by sandy Northeast soil.

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