Guidelines on Practical Aspects of Biochar Application to Field Soil ...

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4. Biochar application to soil management systemsWhen applying biochar to soil for improving its fertility, the biochar should ideally belocated near the soil’s surface in the root zone, where the bulk of nutrient cycling anduptake by plants takes place. Certain systems may benefit from the application of biocharin layers below the root zone, for example during landscaping for C sequestration or ifusing biochar for moisture management. Similarly, if biochar were to be applied to soilsolely for C sequestration purposes, placement deeper in the soil, for example in newlandscaping or construction areas, would be desired since microbial activity that candegrade biochar carbon is reduced deeper in the soil profile.When deciding how to apply biochar to soil, the specific cropping system must be takeninto consideration. The likelihood of wind and water erosion losses of biochar is reducedwhen biochar is thoroughly incorporated into soil, however, plowing and soil mixing are notpossible or desirable in all cropping systems, at all times.4.1 Conventional field crop systemsIn conventional field cropping systems, biochar should ideally be managed using traditionalfarm machinery and incorporated into routine field operations. This will ensure that thecosts of using biochar are kept as low as possible. For example, biochar can be applied andincorporated together with lime, since lime is often applied as a fine solid which must bewell incorporated into soil.4.1.1 Broadcast and incorporateThe majority of biochar field trials reported to date used this method for incorporatingbiochar into soil (Yamato et al., 2006; Steiner et al., 2007; Asai et al., 2009; Major et al.,2010b). Broadcasting can be done by hand on small scales, or on larger scales by usinglime/solid manure spreaders or broadcast seeders. Moistened biochar materials may beFigure 3. Broadcasting and incorporatingbiochar by hand in Honduras. Photo by J.Major.Page 12<strong>Guidelines</strong> for Biochar Application to Soil—International Biochar Initiative
etter suited to application with manure spreaders than lime spreaders. Incorporation canbe achieved using any plowing method at any scale, including hand hoes, animal draftplows, disc harrows, chisels, rotary hoes, etc. Moldboard plowing is not recommended as itis unlikely to mix the biochar into the soil and may result in deep biochar layers (Blackwellet al., 2009). As mentioned above, wind losses from applying and incorporating finebiochar materials can be significant (see Fig 4) and precautions must be taken to minimizethis.Figure 4. Clockwise fromtop left: Biochar lossesduring handling,transportation to the field,application with a limespreader and incorporationwith a disc harrow duringthe establishment of abiochar field trial in St-Francois-Xavier-de-Brompton, QC Canada.Photos by B. Husk.4.1.2 Traditional bandingBanding of seeds and fertilizers is a routine operation in mechanized agriculture, andinvolves applying an amendment in a narrow band, usually using equipment that cuts thesoil open, without disturbing the entire soil surface. Banding allows biochar to be placedinside the soil while minimizing soil disturbance, making it possible to apply biochar aftercrop establishment, for example. However, the amounts of biochar that can be applied inthis way are lower than those which can be achieved by broadcast applications. WheatFigure 5. Deep banding biochar in Australia. Photo by P.Blackwell.<strong>Guidelines</strong> for Biochar Application to Soil—International Biochar Initiative Page 13
Page 1 and 2: Guidelines on Prac
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents1. Purpose .......
Page 5 and 6: 1. PurposeThis guide provides an ov
Page 7 and 8: the biochar is saturated and it als
Page 9 and 10: Figure 1. Left: Hand crushing bioch
Page 11: Dr Makoto Ogawa of the Osaka Instit
Page 15 and 16: iochar to soil. Subsurface banding
Page 17 and 18: into the soil beyond the tree’s p
Page 19 and 20: 4.5.2 Localized applicationBiochar
Page 21 and 22: humification. Bioresource Technolog
Page 23: efficiency improves using greenwast

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