Articles | Volume 8, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-199-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-199-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original research article
| 
17 Mar 2022
Original research article |
| 17 Mar 2022
| 17 Mar 2022
Inclusion of biochar in a C dynamics model based on observations from an 8-year field experiment
Roberta Pulcher
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences,
BIGeA, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Enrico Balugani
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università di Bologna,
Bologna, Italy
Maurizio Ventura
Faculty of Science and Technology, Libera Università di Bolzano,
39100 Bozen, Italy
Nicolas Greggio
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences,
BIGeA, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Diego Marazza
Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences,
BIGeA, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Università di Bologna,
Bologna, Italy
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To become more sustainable, agriculture needs practices that decrease net carbon emission to the atmosphere, increase soil carbon, and simultaneously increase yields and profits. In this study, we show that, in two different areas in Italy, the use of technology-informed managements of catch and cover crops could increase soil carbon sequestration, decrease overall carbon emissions, and increase agricultural yields.
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Covering the soil with plant residues (mulching) decreases soil erosion, insulates the soil to temperature fluctuations, decreases evaporation of soil water, and increases the soil organic matter, sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere to the soil. We modified an existing computer model widely used to predict changes in carbon content of the soil to include mulching and its effect on soil temperature, water content and carbon for rice straw covering the soil of a Mediterranean citrus orchard.
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Short summary
Biochar, a solid product from the thermal conversion of biomass, can be used as a climate change mitigation strategy, since it can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil. The aim of this study is to assess the potential of biochar as a mitigation strategy in the long term, by modelling the results obtained from an 8-year field experiment. As far as we know, this is the first time that a model for biochar degradation has been validated with long-term field data.
Biochar, a solid product from the thermal conversion of biomass, can be used as a climate change...
