Impacts of Biochar and Vermicompost Addition on Physicochemical Characteristics, Metal Availability, and Microbial Communities in Soil Contaminated with Potentially Toxic Elements

Zhiyue Huang () and Wenjuan He
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Zhiyue Huang: College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Wenjuan He: College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: In the current work, the effects of biochar, vermicompost, as well as their combined application on ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in soils contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) were investigated. In this regard, four treatments were performed; among them, treatment A served as a control without additive, treatment B with vermicompost (2%), treatment C with biochar (2%), and treatment D with biochar (2%) plus vermicompost (2%). In addition, the abundance and structure of the AOA and AOB amoA gene were measured using quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing. The relationships between the microbial community, physicochemical parameters, and CaCl 2 -extractable PTEs were analyzed using the Pearson correlation method. We found that adding biochar and vermicompost promoted the immobilization of PTEs and nitrogen biotransformation. The rational use of biochar and vermicompost is beneficial for the growth of bacterial and fungal communities in soils polluted by PTEs. AOA and AOB amoA genes were stimulated by biochar, vermicompost, and their combination, but their structure was hardly affected.

Keywords: potentially toxic element; biochar; vermicompost; ammonia-oxidizing community; soil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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