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Agronomy
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Effects of Biochar Application on Crop Productivity Soil Carbon Sequestration...
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Effects of Biochar Application on Crop Productivity Soil Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Intensity

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Biosystem and Biological Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 5898

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Afeng Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: carbon and nitrogen cycle in farmland ecosystem; application of biochar in farmland
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,
  • Background and history of this topic:

Soil organic matter plays an important role in soil productivity, agricultural sustainable development and global climate change. Biochar has demonstrated great promise in various ways. However, the long-term effects and the life cycle assessment under biochar amendment should be evaluated.

  • Aim and scope of the special issue:

This Special Issue can provide insight into the long-term effects on crop productivity, carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions, using the life cycle assessment to evaluate these effects. 

  • Cutting-edge research:

Molecular composition of soil organic matter, accumulation of microbial residue-C and microbial community structure composition under biochar application. 

  • What kind of papers we are soliciting:

Review or research papers.

Dr. Afeng Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • molecular composition of soil organic matter
  • greenhouse gas emissions
  • carbon sequestration
  • crop productivity
  • life cycle assessment
  • soil remediation
  • N cycling

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4218 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Management Practices under Straw Regimes for Global Sustainable Agricultural Production
by Pengfei Li, Afeng Zhang, Shiwei Huang, Jiale Han, Xiangle Jin, Xiaogang Shen, Qaiser Hussain, Xudong Wang, Jianbin Zhou and Zhujun Chen
Agronomy 2023, 13(3), 710; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13030710 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3470
Abstract
Straw input is a helpful approach that potentially improves soil fertility and crop yield to ensure food security and protect the ecological environment. Nevertheless, unreasonable straw input results in massive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, leading to climate change and global warming. To explore [...] Read more.
Straw input is a helpful approach that potentially improves soil fertility and crop yield to ensure food security and protect the ecological environment. Nevertheless, unreasonable straw input results in massive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, leading to climate change and global warming. To explore the optimum combination of straw input and management practices for achieving green agricultural production, a worldwide data set was created using 3452 comparisons from 323 publications using the meta-analysis method. Overall, straw input increased soil carbon and nitrogen components as compared with no straw input. Additionally, straw input significantly boosted crop yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by 8.86% and 22.72%, respectively, with low nitrogen fertilizer rate benefiting the most. The cumulative of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions increased by 24.81%, 79.30%, and 28.31%, respectively, when straw was added. Global warming potential (GWP) and greenhouse emission intensity (GHGI) increased with the application of straw, whereas net global warming potential (NGWP) decreased owing to soil carbon sequestration. Low straw input rate, straw mulching, application of straw with C/N ratio > 30, long-term straw input, and no-tillage combined with straw input all result in lower GHG emissions. The GWP and GHGI were strongly related to area-scaled CH4 emissions, but the relationship with N2O emissions was weak. Straw application during the non-rice season is the most important measure for reducing CH4 emissions in paddy–upland fields. An optimum straw management strategy coupled with local conditions can help in climate change mitigation while also promoting sustainable agricultural production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Biochar Application on Crop Productivity Soil Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Intensity)
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11 pages, 916 KiB  
Article
Utilization of Biochar for Eliminating Residual Pharmaceuticals from Wastewater Used in Agricultural Irrigation: Application to Ryegrass
by Mayowa Akintoroye, Robert Ato Newton, Sylvie Kříženecká, Stanislav Hejda, Pavel Krystyník, Markus Ahnert, Josef Trögl, Peter Krebs and Karim Suhail Al Souki
Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 2987; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12122987 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1859
Abstract
Biochar is known to be a promising material for the treatment of contaminants in wastewater and soil. In this research, wastewater samples collected at the tertiary stage from a WWTP located in the North Bohemia region of Czechia and containing 20 pharmaceutical contaminants [...] Read more.
Biochar is known to be a promising material for the treatment of contaminants in wastewater and soil. In this research, wastewater samples collected at the tertiary stage from a WWTP located in the North Bohemia region of Czechia and containing 20 pharmaceutical contaminants were treated with the same biochar (wood and maize cob feedstocks, pyrolysis temperature of 470 °C), but of different doses (0.1 g L−1, 0.25 g L−1, 0.5 g L−1). In this case study, we aimed to verify the impacts of biochar application and/or concentration on the sorption of pharmaceuticals in water. The treated water was later used for irrigating planted (ryegrass taken as the plant model) and unplanted agricultural soils in a pot experiment. Soils and ryegrass samples were examined again for potential pharmaceutical existence, and the soil microbial activities were determined through fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activities (FDHA). Results showed that most pharmaceuticals concentrations were significantly, but not totally, reduced from the wastewater upon biochar addition. Contaminants such as 3-hydroxycarbamazepine and metoprolol were entirely removed from the wastewater after 0.25 g L−1, whilst bezafibrate did not decline even at 0.5 g L−1. Moreover, the concentrations of pharmaceuticals in ryegrass biomass and soils were dominantly below detection limits or at very low doses. Finally, there were no significant differences in the microbial activities of the soils. This implicates that biochar could be approached as a good substrate for eliminating pharmaceuticals from wastewaters used for agricultural irrigation; however, more similar studies need to be carried out. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Biochar Application on Crop Productivity Soil Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Intensity)
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