Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Standard

Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial. / Greenberg, Isabel; Kaiser, Michael; Gunina, Anna; Ledesma, Philipp; Polifka, Steven; Wiedner, Katja; Mueller, Carsten W.; Glaser, Bruno; Ludwig, Bernard.

In: Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 680, 2019, p. 181-189.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Greenberg, I, Kaiser, M, Gunina, A, Ledesma, P, Polifka, S, Wiedner, K, Mueller, CW, Glaser, B & Ludwig, B 2019, 'Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 680, pp. 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051

APA

Greenberg, I., Kaiser, M., Gunina, A., Ledesma, P., Polifka, S., Wiedner, K., Mueller, C. W., Glaser, B., & Ludwig, B. (2019). Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial. Science of the Total Environment, 680, 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051

Vancouver

Greenberg I, Kaiser M, Gunina A, Ledesma P, Polifka S, Wiedner K et al. Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial. Science of the Total Environment. 2019;680:181-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051

Author

Greenberg, Isabel ; Kaiser, Michael ; Gunina, Anna ; Ledesma, Philipp ; Polifka, Steven ; Wiedner, Katja ; Mueller, Carsten W. ; Glaser, Bruno ; Ludwig, Bernard. / Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial. In: Science of the Total Environment. 2019 ; Vol. 680. pp. 181-189.

Bibtex

@article{34fa4a786a4544c1948d90eb544b875a,
title = "Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial",
abstract = "Various organic amendments are scrutinized as potential agricultural management strategies to ensure soil productivity while mitigating climate change due to the accumulation of soil organic matter (OM). The objectives of this experiment were to study the effects of biochar and biogas digestate versus mineral fertilizer on crop aboveground biomass as well as fractions and mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC). Samples of a sandy Cambisol were taken 14 months after establishment of a field experiment in Germany. Treatments included application of equal nitrogen in the form of mineral fertilizer or liquid biogas digestate without biochar (B0), with 1 Mg biochar ha−1season−1 for two growing seasons (B2), or with 40 Mg biochar ha−1 application (B40). Soil fractionation in water separated water-extractable and free particulate (fPOM) OM, followed by sonification and sieving to isolate occluded particulate (oPOM) and < 20 μm aggregate-occluded and mineral-associated OM. CO2 emissions were measured during 92-day laboratory incubations at 10 and 20 °C. Analysis of variance found digestate lowered (p < 0.05) rye aboveground biomass compared to mineral fertilizer (9.3 vs. 10.6 Mg ha−1), while biochar had no effect. B40 treatments increased C mineralization during incubation by 16% and contained 3.8 times more SOC than B0 treatments. This additional SOC was allocated to fPOM (52%), oPOM (22%), and the <20 μm fraction (26%). Digestate application increased SOC content of oPOM by 11% compared to mineral fertilizer. Furthermore, combined application of 40 Mg biochar ha−1 with digestate resulted in 20% more SOC in the <20 μm fraction than biochar with mineral fertilizer. The lack of a significant fertilizer or biochar-fertilizer interaction effect on C mineralization during incubation demonstrates the stability of SOC from digestate alone or in combination with biochar. The absence of significant differences in SOC content between B0 and B2 treatments demonstrates the difficulty of documenting SOC sequestration in the field at low biochar application rates.",
keywords = "Free particulate organic matter, Mineral-associated organic matter, Occluded particulate organic matter, Organic fertilizer, Sandy soil, Temperate climate",
author = "Isabel Greenberg and Michael Kaiser and Anna Gunina and Philipp Ledesma and Steven Polifka and Katja Wiedner and Mueller, {Carsten W.} and Bruno Glaser and Bernard Ludwig",
year = "2019",
doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051",
language = "English",
volume = "680",
pages = "181--189",
journal = "Science of the Total Environment",
issn = "0048-9697",
publisher = "Elsevier",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biogas digestate plus biochar increases physically stabilized soil carbon but not crop biomass in a field trial

AU - Greenberg, Isabel

AU - Kaiser, Michael

AU - Gunina, Anna

AU - Ledesma, Philipp

AU - Polifka, Steven

AU - Wiedner, Katja

AU - Mueller, Carsten W.

AU - Glaser, Bruno

AU - Ludwig, Bernard

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Various organic amendments are scrutinized as potential agricultural management strategies to ensure soil productivity while mitigating climate change due to the accumulation of soil organic matter (OM). The objectives of this experiment were to study the effects of biochar and biogas digestate versus mineral fertilizer on crop aboveground biomass as well as fractions and mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC). Samples of a sandy Cambisol were taken 14 months after establishment of a field experiment in Germany. Treatments included application of equal nitrogen in the form of mineral fertilizer or liquid biogas digestate without biochar (B0), with 1 Mg biochar ha−1season−1 for two growing seasons (B2), or with 40 Mg biochar ha−1 application (B40). Soil fractionation in water separated water-extractable and free particulate (fPOM) OM, followed by sonification and sieving to isolate occluded particulate (oPOM) and < 20 μm aggregate-occluded and mineral-associated OM. CO2 emissions were measured during 92-day laboratory incubations at 10 and 20 °C. Analysis of variance found digestate lowered (p < 0.05) rye aboveground biomass compared to mineral fertilizer (9.3 vs. 10.6 Mg ha−1), while biochar had no effect. B40 treatments increased C mineralization during incubation by 16% and contained 3.8 times more SOC than B0 treatments. This additional SOC was allocated to fPOM (52%), oPOM (22%), and the <20 μm fraction (26%). Digestate application increased SOC content of oPOM by 11% compared to mineral fertilizer. Furthermore, combined application of 40 Mg biochar ha−1 with digestate resulted in 20% more SOC in the <20 μm fraction than biochar with mineral fertilizer. The lack of a significant fertilizer or biochar-fertilizer interaction effect on C mineralization during incubation demonstrates the stability of SOC from digestate alone or in combination with biochar. The absence of significant differences in SOC content between B0 and B2 treatments demonstrates the difficulty of documenting SOC sequestration in the field at low biochar application rates.

AB - Various organic amendments are scrutinized as potential agricultural management strategies to ensure soil productivity while mitigating climate change due to the accumulation of soil organic matter (OM). The objectives of this experiment were to study the effects of biochar and biogas digestate versus mineral fertilizer on crop aboveground biomass as well as fractions and mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC). Samples of a sandy Cambisol were taken 14 months after establishment of a field experiment in Germany. Treatments included application of equal nitrogen in the form of mineral fertilizer or liquid biogas digestate without biochar (B0), with 1 Mg biochar ha−1season−1 for two growing seasons (B2), or with 40 Mg biochar ha−1 application (B40). Soil fractionation in water separated water-extractable and free particulate (fPOM) OM, followed by sonification and sieving to isolate occluded particulate (oPOM) and < 20 μm aggregate-occluded and mineral-associated OM. CO2 emissions were measured during 92-day laboratory incubations at 10 and 20 °C. Analysis of variance found digestate lowered (p < 0.05) rye aboveground biomass compared to mineral fertilizer (9.3 vs. 10.6 Mg ha−1), while biochar had no effect. B40 treatments increased C mineralization during incubation by 16% and contained 3.8 times more SOC than B0 treatments. This additional SOC was allocated to fPOM (52%), oPOM (22%), and the <20 μm fraction (26%). Digestate application increased SOC content of oPOM by 11% compared to mineral fertilizer. Furthermore, combined application of 40 Mg biochar ha−1 with digestate resulted in 20% more SOC in the <20 μm fraction than biochar with mineral fertilizer. The lack of a significant fertilizer or biochar-fertilizer interaction effect on C mineralization during incubation demonstrates the stability of SOC from digestate alone or in combination with biochar. The absence of significant differences in SOC content between B0 and B2 treatments demonstrates the difficulty of documenting SOC sequestration in the field at low biochar application rates.

KW - Free particulate organic matter

KW - Mineral-associated organic matter

KW - Occluded particulate organic matter

KW - Organic fertilizer

KW - Sandy soil

KW - Temperate climate

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.051

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31121498

AN - SCOPUS:85065772001

VL - 680

SP - 181

EP - 189

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

ER -

ID: 238949274