Commercial scale biochar field trial in Québec, Canada ... · PDF fileCommercial scale...
Transcript of Commercial scale biochar field trial in Québec, Canada ... · PDF fileCommercial scale...
Commercial scale biochar field trial in Québec, Canada over two years
Barry HuskPresident, BlueLeaf Inc.
and
Julie Major, PhDConsultant
Background
• Blue Leaf is a social purpose corporation– Privately owned, for-profit– Goal is to bring about improvements to the
environment while being financially sustainable
– Revenues generated are reinvested in projects
• Has previously worked on reducing P pollution from agricultural land
Objectives
• Assess the practicality of using biochar in agriculture
• Determine benefits associated to applying biochar to soil– Effects on soil chemical, physical and
biological properties– Effects on crop yields
Trial location
Experimental setup• Experiment established in
spring 2008• Clay loam soil under
typical farmer management
• Historical high application of P through dairy manure
• Biochar was CQuestTM
from Dynamotiveppm<0.2Total Hg
ppm<1.5Total As
ppm<10Total Pb
ppm982Total N (Kjeldahl)%65Fixed C (ASTM D3172)
%24Volatile matter (ASTM D3175)
%9.8Liming value (CaCO3 equiv.)
% D.M.11Ash content280C/N
% D.M.73Total C7.6pH
%35Moisture content
UnitValueCharacteristic
Sorption of R134a by biochar
0.10%
1.00%
10.00%
100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300
Temperature Celsius
Ads
orpt
ion
of R
134a
- w
t %
Minimum CC#10Maximum CC#14Fast pyrolysis Char 1Fast pyrolysis Char 2Fast pyrolysis Char 3Fast pyrolysis Char 4Fast pyrolysis Char 5Fast pyrolysis Char 6U of Idaho - DynamotiveSteiner Corn Stover 400C N2Steiner Pine 500C N2Steiner Pine 500C SteamSteiner Peanut Hulls 500C SteamBlue Leaf #1 2Q2010Blue Leaf #2 2Q2010Blue Leaf #3 2Q2010
Range of CommercialLump charcoals for cookingin YELLOW
Experimental setup• This is NOT a standard, replicated and
randomized experiment
Treatments consist of two adjacent,10 X 100 m swaths
Biochar application• Estimated 30% loss during handling and
application• Target application rate: 5.6 t/ha, estimated actual
application rate: 3.9 t/ha
Biochar application• Soybean planted in 2008, mixture
of forage species in 2009• All field operations carried out by
farmer• Fertility managed with lime,
synthetic fertilizer and dairy manure according to governmental recommendations
• Very wet spring in 2009 resultedin late seeding and poorestablishment and early growth offorages
Data collection• Soil sampled 11 times over 2 growing
seasons– Biological, chemical and physical parameters
assessed– Many soil parameters also measured in the
field• Soybean plants harvested at maturity,
forage harvested twice– Some parameters also measured in the field– Soybean yield measured using a commercial
harvester
Results: soil physical parameters
• No trends for: soil temperature, resistance to penetration, soil moisture content
• Soil bulk density slightly greater with biochar
• Surface infiltration generally improved with biochar
7 July 08
28 July 08
27 Aug 08
17 Sep 08
5 Nov 08
25 May 09
14 Sep 09Su
rface
infil
tratio
n (in
ches
/h)
0
1
2
3
4
5
control biochar
Results: soil chemical parameters
• No clear differences or trends for total C, organic matter, total N, redox potential
• NH4-N, available K and Mg greater with biochar in 09
• pH, EC, NO3-N, available P and Ca greater in the control in 09
Results: soil biological parameters• No clear differences or trends in total and active
bacterial biomass, total and active fungal biomass, hyphal diameter, flagellate and ciliate protozoa, predatory and exclusive root feeder nematodes, root colonization by ectomycorrhizae, soil respiration
• Generally greater earthworm density with biochar
28 July 08
17 Sep 08
5 Nov 08
25 May 09
2 June 09
21 July 09
17 Aug 09
14 Sep 09
13 Oct 09Earth
wor
m d
ensi
ty (n
umbe
r per
cub
ic fo
ot)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
control biochar
Results: soil biological parameters
• Greater root colonization by endomycorrhizalfungi with biochar
• More bacterial feeder, fungal feeder, and fungal or root feeder nematodes with biochar
• Less amoebic protozoa with biochar
• Hypothesis that biochar provides a refuge for soil microbes seems to be supported by this data
Results: soybean crop• Leaf temperature lower on all dates measured• Taller plants above-ground but shorter taproots• Fewer seed numbers and seed weight per plant• Plant density greater by 35%
• Resulted in 20% greater yield measured by harvester
Results: forage crop• Taller oat plants with
biochar• Relative feed value slightly
lower with biochar in year 3, but 12% greater in year 3
• Oat biomass twice as large with biochar
• Total forage biomass apparently not significantly different
Comparisons to other studies• Laird in Iowa applied 9.8 and 18.4 t/ha
biochar– 15% increase in corn density– 4% improvement in corn yield
• Rondon et al. (2007) also observed greater shoot-to-root ratio in common beans with biochar
Overall conclusions• Yield improvements cannot be clearly
attributed to differences in nutrient availability
• Yield improvement in soybean were due to greater plant density
• Greater colonization by ectomycorrhizaemay have played a role
• Total soil C was not measurably greater with an estimated 3.9 t/ha biochar application
New experiments in 2010
• Testing 3 different biochar materials at 5 and 10 t/ha– Materials selected after analyzing according to
governmental recommendations
New experiments in 2010
• Testing biochar application with manure
New experiments in 2010
• Effect on soil P pools studied in detail, as well as and P fluxes with surfaces runoff
Thank you!
Merci!