Sorption to Biochar Impacts β-Glucosidase and Phosphatase Enzyme Activities

Erika J. Foster, Emily J. Fogle and M. Francesca Cotrufo
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Erika J. Foster: Soil and Crop Sciences Department and Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
Emily J. Fogle: Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, California Polytechnic State University, Baker Center Building 180, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
M. Francesca Cotrufo: Soil and Crop Sciences Department and Natural Resource Ecology Lab, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-12

Abstract: Extracellular enzymes catalyze biogeochemical reactions in soil, cycling carbon and nutrients in agricultural systems. Enzymes respond quickly to soil management, including organic amendment inputs, such as biochar, a charcoal-like solid byproduct of bioenergy production. In a previous agricultural field trial, a pine biochar amendment caused an approximately 40% decrease in the enzyme activities of β-glucosidase (BG) and phosphatase (PHOS). The large surface area of the pine biochar has the potential to sorb nutrients and other organic molecules. To test if sorption caused decreased enzyme activity, we used a laboratory assay to quantify the activity of two sorbed enzymes: BG and acid PHOS, involved in the cycling of carbon and phosphorous. The enzymes were incubated with three solid phases: (1) the high surface area pine biochar, (2) the agricultural soil, and (3) a low surface area grass biochar, for an additional comparison. We quantified the sorbed enzymes at pH 6, 7, and 8, using a Bradford protein assay, and measured the immobilized enzyme activities via high-throughput fluorometric analysis. After sorption onto pine biochar, detectable BG and PHOS activity levels dropped by over 95% relative to the soil, supporting direct sorption as one mechanism that reduces enzyme activity in biochar amended soil. This laboratory assay demonstrated that sorption could account for the lack of priming of native soil organic matter and changes in soil phosphorous cycling after pine biochar addition.

Keywords: biochar; surface area; enzyme activity; immobilization; protein assay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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