Abstract
To explore the effects of biochar application on CO2 and CH4 emissions as well as the temperature response of CO2 emissions, a 1-year experiment was conducted with three treatments (control; CF, chemical fertilizer only; BCF, biochar combined with chemical fertilizer) in a vegetable field. The results showed that (1) compared with CF, short-term application of biochar significantly enhanced the cumulative CO2 emissions by 27.5% from a soil–plant system by increasing the soil microbial biomass (e.g., MBC) and C substrates (e.g., SOC); (2) lowest emissions of CH4 were observed in the BCF treatment, and an increase in CH4 consumption and reduced competition with NH4+ may be responsible for the significant reduction in CH4 source strength in biochar-amended soil; and (3) activation energy (Ea) was identified as an important factor influencing the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of CO2 emissions. Fertilization (CF and BCF) reduced the average Q10 and Ea values of CO2 emissions by 9.0–26.7% and 23.5–10.1%, respectively, relative to the control. In addition, the average Ea value in the BCF treatment (51.9 kJ mol−1) was significantly higher than those in the control and CF treatments. The increase in Q10 and Ea values following biochar application possibly contributed to the supplementation of limited labile C and nutrients but highly resistant C following biochar application. Soil pH and crop cultivation may play key roles in influencing the change in Ea. Our study concludes that biochar amendment increased CO2 emissions and temperature response of CO2 emission from the soil–plant system while reducing CH4 emissions.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Chongqing Technology Innovation and Application Demonstration Special Key R & D Project (cstc2018jscx-mszdX0061), Chongqing Key Laboratory of Soil Multiscale Interfacial Process, Scientific Research Project for the Follow-up Work of the Three Gorges Project from the State Major Water Conservancy Project (5001022019CF50001), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42107247), and Key Program of China National Tobacco Corporation Sichuan (CYC202004).
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Rong Huang: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing of the original draft.
Zifang Wang: Conceptualization, methodology, and validation.
Yi Xiao: Investigation, methodology, and validation.
Luo Yu: Methodology and validation.
Xuesong Gao: Formal analysis and writing including review and editing.
Changquan Wang: Supervision and funding acquisition.
Bing Li: Formal analysis and writing including review and editing.
Qi Tao: Methodology and writing including review and editing.
Qiang Xu: Methodology and validation.
Ming Gao: Supervision and funding acquisition.
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Highlights
• Combination of biochar and N cannot offset the negative effect of biochar on soil CO2 emissions.
• Short-term application of biochar showed a significant increase in CH4 sink strength/reduction in CH4 source strength.
• A lower value of Ea is responsible for the lower Q10 in soil treated with fertilizer.
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Huang, R., Wang, Z., Xiao, Y. et al. Increases in temperature response to CO2 emissions in biochar-amended vegetable field soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 50895–50905 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19011-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19011-6