Soil quality index as a tool to assess biochars soil quality improvement in a heavy metal-contaminated soil.

The assessment of soil quality improvement provided by biochars is complex and rarely examined. In this work, soil quality indices (SQIs) were produced to evaluate coffee industry feedstock biochars improvement on soil quality samples of a heavy metal-multicontaminated soil. Therefore, a 90-day incubation experiment was carried out with the following treatments: contaminated soil (CT), contaminated soil with pH raised to 7.

Biochar-based nitrogen fertilizers: Greenhouse gas emissions, use efficiency, and maize yield in tropical soils.

The sustainable development of agriculture depends on increasing N use efficiency (NUE) and consequently reducing N losses from different sources, such as NH volatilization, NO leaching, and NO emissions. While the chemical and physical properties of biochar (BC) in fertilizers have been evaluated to increase NUE, a lack of information exists regarding the effects of BC amendments in tropical soils. We performed a one-year field experiment with tropical soil to evaluate the effects of BC-based N fertilizers (BN) on maize yield and on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Carbon stability and mitigation of fertilizer induced NO emissions in soil amended with biochar.

Biochar is a promising tool for an efficient and low environmental impact agriculture since can offer both soil carbon (C) sequestration and mitigation of nitrous oxide (NO) emissions. The extent of biochar C stability after soil amendment and efficiency in reducing NO emissions from an external nitrogen (N) source were accessed through laboratory incubations. A clay loam soil was amended with chicken manure (CM), sewage sludge (SS), eucalyptus sawdust (ES) and filter cake (FC) feedstocks and corresponding slow-pyrolysis (400°C) biochars at 5gCkg soil in combination with two N fertilizer rates (0 and 140mgNkg soil).

Ion leaching and soil solution acidification in a vadose zone under soil treated with sewage sludge for agriculture.

In this study, we performed monitoring of the soil solution (SS) over 10 years on a loamy/clayey-textured Dark Red Dystroferric Oxisol that received sewage sludge for agricultural purposes. The SS was obtained by lysimeters installed along the walls of a well at 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m and 5 m in depth. The major ions found in the SS were NO, SO, Cl, Ca, Mg, Al, Pb, Cd and Zn, and the pH level ranged from 4 to 6.

A Statistical Review of Alternative Zinc and Copper Extraction from Mineral Fertilizers and Industrial By-Products.

Rapid, accurate, and low-cost alternative analytical methods for micronutrient quantification in fertilizers are fundamental in QC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) content in mineral fertilizers and industrial by-products determined by the alternative methods USEPA 3051a, 10% HCl, and 10% H2SO4 are statistically equivalent to the standard method, consisting of hot-plate digestion using concentrated HCl. The commercially marketed Zn and Cu sources in Brazil consisted of oxides, carbonate, and sulfate fertilizers and by-products consisting of galvanizing ash, galvanizing sludge, brass ash, and brass or scrap slag.