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 [email protected]

Transcript of Bioenergy byproducts for forest rehabilitation ...€¦ · Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF)...

  • 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

    [email protected]

  • Releases heat

    (exothermic)

    What is biochar?

    2

    Waste plant biomass 100%Transport

    Energy

    Chemicals

    Industry

    ~30% Residual heat

    ~40%

    Biochar ~30%

    Pyrolysis

    Syngas

    Bio-oil

    ½ life ~ 1000-10,000s yrs

  • 3

    Climate change

    mitigation

    Renew Energy

    Waste treatment

    Soil fertility

    The Four Pillars of the Pyrolysis/Biochar Platform

  • 4

    Climate change

    mitigation

    Renew Energy

    Waste treatment

    Soil fertility

    The Four Pillars of the Pyrolysis/Biochar Vision

  • Essentially

    permanent

    CARBON

    SEQUESTRATION

    Climate mitigation:When is a negative a positive?

    5

    Lehmann 2008Conventional

    biofuels – diesel

    and ethanol Pyrolysis

  • Biomass examples:Crop residues

    Organic wastes

    Diseased plant material

  • Soil Fertility Improvement?

  • Terra Preta: black, fertile, anthrosol

    9

    ◦ 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.

  • “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

    10

  • Charcoal (biochar) use in 19th & 20th

    century Western agriculture

    11

    …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

  • After WWII… charcoal use in agriculture was forgotten

    Tilman et al., Science 2001

    DDT

    discovered

    in 1939

    N

    P

    K

  • Fast forward…

    13

  • Wim Sombroek (1934-2003).

    Ph.D. 1963: Amazon Soils

    Godfather of Terra Preta

    14

    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

  • 0% 1% 3%

    Plants grow better16

    1%

    Biochar

    0%

    Biochar

  • 0% 1% 3%

    17

    0% biochar 1% biochar

  • 19

    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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 0 5 10 15 20

    Bio

    ch

    ar

    Co

    nc

    . (%

    )

    Severity (%)

    0 a

    3 b

    5 b

    22

    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

  • 0% 1% 5%

    Heavy metals:

    e.g., Cr(VI), Cu

    Climate:

    e.g., Heat Shock (HS)

    Drought

    Abiotic stresses

    Organics: e.g., Herbicides

  • How does it work?

    24

    ◦ 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)

  • 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

  • CSSV

    Huge numbers of cocoa trees need to be removed

    Extensive replanting is needed

  • 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

  • Biochar Solutions

    26 March 2019

    23 January 2020

    Phytosanitation

    Disease resistance

    Biostimulation

    Soil detoxification

    Forest rehabilitation

    26 September 2019

  • Vision

    Turn cacao into a sedentary, climate

    resilient and pest resistant crop with enhanced economic and health value

  • JOIN US IN SAVING COCOA

    Ellen R. Graber, Ph.D.; The Volcani Center, ARO, Israel

    [email protected]