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Soil organic carbon storage and quality are impacted by corn cob biochar application on a tropical sandy loam

  • Soils, Sec 2 • Global Change, Environ Risk Assess, Sustainable Land Use • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Humic substances, which are integral components of total organic carbon (TOC), influence soil quality. The study aimed to investigate whether humic and non-humic fractions exhibit early, consistent, and measurable changes and affect TOC sensitivity and storage in a tropical sandy loam soils amended with corn cob biochar.

Materials and methods

There were four treatments with four replicates established in a randomized complete block design. Composite soil samples were taken from plots without biochar (CT), from plots incorporated with 15 t biochar ha−1 (BC-15), and 30 t biochar ha−1 without or with phosphate fertilizer (BC-30 and BC-30+P). The TOC, and humin, humic acid (HA), and fulvic acid (HA) fractions of soil organic carbon were determined for each treatment. The optical densities (400–700 nm) were measured on the soil-free extracts by spectrophotometry; the densities measured at 465 and 665 nm were used to calculate the E465/E665 ratios.

Results and discussion

The BC-30 and BC-30+P plots recorded the highest TOC, humin, humic acid (HA), and fulvic acid (FA) contents with respect to the lowest in the CT. The total exchangeable carbon stratification was significantly higher in all the biochar-treated plots relative to the CT. Spectral analysis showed higher values of E465/E665 (5.02 and 5.15) in the CT and BC-15-treated soils, respectively, compared with the BC-30 and BC-30+P-amended soils with E465/E665 ratios of 2.76 and 2.98, respectively.

Conclusions

Corn cob biochar applied to a tropical sandy loam:

• increased the concentrations of HA and FA and led to increased stratification of TOC, with a stronger effect on HA compared with FA;

• significantly lowered E465/E665 at the high biochar application rate of 30 t ha−1, implying the dominance of high molecular weight humic acid-like substances, and increased degree of aromaticity of the TOC.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Danida (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark) under the project “Green Cohesive Agricultural Resource Management, WEBSOC,” DFC project no: 13-01AU, and the Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Borlaug LEAP) through a grant to the University of California-Davis by the United States Agency for International Development.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR – Soil Research Institute, Academy Post Office, Kwadaso, Kumasi, Ghana

    Emmanuel Amoakwah

  2. Department of Agroecology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Emmanuel Arthur

  3. Soil Science Department, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

    Kwame A. Frimpong

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

    Sanjai J. Parikh

  5. Soil, Water and Bioenergy Resources, The Ohio State University South Centers at Piketon, Piketon, OH, USA

    Rafiq Islam

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  1. Emmanuel Amoakwah
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  2. Emmanuel Arthur
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  5. Rafiq Islam
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Amoakwah.

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Amoakwah, E., Arthur, E., Frimpong, K.A. et al. Soil organic carbon storage and quality are impacted by corn cob biochar application on a tropical sandy loam. J Soils Sediments 20, 1960–1969 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02547-5

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