Buckhorn Disinfection Byproducts / Backwash Disposal Project
Bioenergy byproducts for forest rehabilitation ...€¦ · Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF)...
Transcript of Bioenergy byproducts for forest rehabilitation ...€¦ · Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF)...
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Bioenergy byproducts for forest rehabilitation: Using biochar for restoring cacao forests in
Ghana
Proposed Initiative of the Ghana Cocoa
Board (COCOBOD) and
The Volcani Center of Israel
Ellen R. Graber, Ph.D.; The Volcani Center, ARO, Israel
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Releases heat
(exothermic)
What is biochar?
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Waste plant biomass 100%Transport
Energy
Chemicals
Industry
~30% Residual heat
~40%
Biochar ~30%
Pyrolysis
Syngas
Bio-oil
½ life ~ 1000-10,000s yrs
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Climate change
mitigation
Renew Energy
Waste treatment
Soil fertility
The Four Pillars of the Pyrolysis/Biochar Platform
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Climate change
mitigation
Renew Energy
Waste treatment
Soil fertility
The Four Pillars of the Pyrolysis/Biochar Vision
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Essentially
permanent
CARBON
SEQUESTRATION
Climate mitigation:When is a negative a positive?
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Lehmann 2008Conventional
biofuels – diesel
and ethanol Pyrolysis
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Biomass examples:Crop residues
Organic wastes
Diseased plant material
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Soil Fertility Improvement?
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Terra Preta: black, fertile, anthrosol
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◦ Highly fertile; rich in minerals including
P, Ca, Zn, and Mn
◦ Most important ingredient is charcoal,
the source of Terra Preta's color, nutrient retention, and O content
◦ Contains pottery shards, bones, and
residues of manure.
Occupy 0.1-
0.3% (6000-
18000 km2) of
lowland
Amazonia.
Between 500
to 8000 years
old.
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“The cane field itself is a splendid site;
the stalks ten feet high in many
places, and as big as one’s wrist. This
is the rich terra preta, ‘black land’,
the best on the Amazons. It is a fine,
dark loam, a foot and often two feet
thick.” Herbert Smith (1851-1919)
“The soil is black and very fertile. It
yields without culture 30 bushels of rice
per acre.” James Orton (1830-1877)
Early Descriptions of Terra Preta
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Charcoal (biochar) use in 19th & 20th
century Western agriculture
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…charcoal absorbs and condenses the
nutritive gases within its own pores
…charcoal checks rust in wheat, and mildew
in other crops; …. in France, it has been
extensively introduced for the wheat crop.
Charcoal dust drilled in with seed increases
early growth from four to ten-fold
1847
Without
charcoal With
charcoal
Retan, 1915
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After WWII… charcoal use in agriculture was forgotten
Tilman et al., Science 2001
DDT
discovered
in 1939
N
P
K
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Fast forward…
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Wim Sombroek (1934-2003).
Ph.D. 1963: Amazon Soils
Godfather of Terra Preta
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In the late 1990s, started to promote the idea of developing new Terra Preta soil using charcoal as carbon stores and sinks for intensive cultivation
Terra Preta Nova
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0% 1% 3%
Plants grow better16
1%
Biochar
0%
Biochar
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0% 1% 3%
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0% biochar 1% biochar
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0
3000
6000
9000
12000
90 140 190 240
Yie
ld (
Kg
/10
00
m2)
Time after planting (days)
Control
0.5 GHW 450 2Y
1 GHW 450
1 GHW 350
1 EUC 350
a
b
a
b
a
b
a
ab
b
2012-2013
No
biochar
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20
a
b
b
b
b
Control
GHW 2 Y
GHW
GHW
EUC
Disease severity (%)
Severity 29 1 13
a
ab
ab
b
b
Control
GHW 2 Y
GHW
GHW
EUC
Disease severity (%)
7/3/13
a
c
c
b
ab
Control
GHW 2 Y
GHW
GHW
EUC
Incidence broad mite (%)
EUC-350
GHW-350
GHW-450
GHW-450 (2Y)
Control
EUC-350
GHW-350
GHW-450
GHW-450 (2Y)
Control
A
C
B
EUC-350
GHW-350
GHW-450
GHW-450 (2Y)
Control
169 days
Powdery Mildew
Gray Mold (Botrytis cinerea)
0
5
10
15
20
0 2 4 6
Time after infection (days)
Dis
ea
se s
ev
erity
(%
)
Dis
ea
sese
ve
rity
(ro
t a
rea
,m
m2)
0 2 4 6 80
40
80
120
160
Time after infection (days(
No biochar
GHW – 3%
CW – 3%
Biochar, conc. (%)
Control
Biochar
Plants resist
stresses better
Foliar pathogens
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Rhizoctonia Solani – damping off
0% 1%
0% 0.5% 1% 3% 0% 0.5% 1% 3%
Panama Disease
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc)
Soilborne pathogens
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0 5 10 15 20
Bio
ch
ar
Co
nc
. (%
)
Severity (%)
0 a
3 b
5 b
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0% Biochar
0 5 10 15
Control
0.5 GHW…
1 GHW 450
1 GHW 350
1 EUC 350
Frequency (%)
ab
a
b
2012-2013
Field
experiment
Broad Mite
Insect pests
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0% 1% 5%
Heavy metals:
e.g., Cr(VI), Cu
Climate:
e.g., Heat Shock (HS)
Drought
Abiotic stresses
Organics: e.g., Herbicides
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How does it work?
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◦ Provides nutrients
◦ Increases nutrient holding capacity
◦ Improves soil water holding capacity
◦ Reduces soil strength
◦ Improves pH of acid soils
◦ Enhances mycorrhiza
◦ Adsorbs contaminants
Simultaneous
Plant Growth
Promotion
&
Systemic
Induced
Resistance
Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) &
Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF)
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Threats:Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV)
“Black Pod Disease”
Myriad insect pests
Low fertility soils
Drying and warming climate
Loss of pollinatorsToxic soils
90+% Yield Reduction
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CSSV
Huge numbers of cocoa trees need to be removed
Extensive replanting is needed
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Can Biochar Help?
Bioenergy byproducts for forest rehabilitation: Using biochar for restoring cacao forests in Ghana
Proposed Initiative of the Ghana Cocoa
Board (COCOBOD) and The Volcani Center
of Israel
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Biochar Solutions
26 March 2019
23 January 2020
Phytosanitation
Disease resistance
Biostimulation
Soil detoxification
Forest rehabilitation
26 September 2019
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Vision
Turn cacao into a sedentary, climate
resilient and pest resistant crop with enhanced economic and health value
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JOIN US IN SAVING COCOA
Ellen R. Graber, Ph.D.; The Volcani Center, ARO, Israel