Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

  • Chief EditorT. Mohapatra

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Indian Journal of Agricultural Research, volume 53 issue 6 (december 2019) : 675-680

Dynamics of C and N in a clay loam soil amended with biochar and corn straw

George O. Odugbenro, Zhihua Liu, Yankun Sun
1College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150 030, PR China.
Cite article:- Odugbenro O. George, Liu Zhihua, Sun Yankun (2019). Dynamics of C and N in a clay loam soil amended with biochar and corn straw. Indian Journal of Agricultural Research. 53(6): 675-680. doi: 10.18805/IJARe.A-403.
An incubation study was conducted to determine the influence of biochar and corn straw on CO2-C emission, soil organic C, microbial biomass C and N, total N, and mineral N (NH4+-N and NO3--N) in a clay loam soil. Six treatments viz., CK (Control); S (Soil + 1% straw); B1 (Soil + 0.5% biochar); B2 (Soil + 2% biochar); SB1 (Soil + 1% straw + 0.5% biochar); SB2 (Soil + 1% straw + 2% biochar) were tested with three replications. Results showed that straw addition to soil with or without biochar increased CO2-C emission while sole-biochar addition (2%) reduced it. Straw and biochar also increased the soil microbial biomass C and N but greatest increase in microbial biomass N (111.9 µg g-1) was recorded by biochar-straw combination. SOC and total N significantly increased following biochar and straw additions which suggest that organic amendments can improve soil chemical properties. Additionally, for soil mineral N, biochar reduced NH4+-N and NO3--N concentrations while straw increased NH4+-N concentration but greatly reduced  that of NO3--N.
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