Activated Biochar-Based Organomineral Fertilizer Delays Nitrogen Release and Reduces N 2 O Emission

Valéria Viana Pereira, Marina Moura Morales, Dalton Henrique Pereira, Fabiana Abreu de Rezende, Ciro Augusto de Souza Magalhães, Larissa Borges de Lima, Ben Hur Marimon-Junior and Fabiano André Petter ()
Additional contact information
Valéria Viana Pereira: Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Câmpus Universitário de Sinop, Sinop 78550-728, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Marina Moura Morales: Embrapa Florestas, Colombo 83411-000, Paraná, Brazil
Dalton Henrique Pereira: Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Câmpus Universitário de Sinop, Sinop 78550-728, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Fabiana Abreu de Rezende: Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril, Sinop 78550-970, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Ciro Augusto de Souza Magalhães: Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril, Sinop 78550-970, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Larissa Borges de Lima: Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Câmpus Universitário de Sinop, Sinop 78550-728, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Ben Hur Marimon-Junior: Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Câmpus Universitário de Nova Xavantina, Nova Xavantina 78690-000, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Fabiano André Petter: Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Câmpus Universitário de Sinop, Sinop 78550-728, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-17

Abstract: Leaching and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions can represent substantial nitrogen (N) losses from chemical fertilizers, and slow-release fertilizers (SRFs) can mitigate these effects. Thus, biochar can be an alternative from an agronomic and environmental point of view to synthesize SRFs due to its physicochemical characteristics. We investigated the effect of nitrogenous organomineral fertilizers (OMF-N) formulated based on activated biochar on N losses by leaching and N 2 O emissions. The OMF-N were developed from a dry mechanical pelleting process with different biochar and urea proportions (2:1; 1:2, and 1:4). Three experiments were conducted using four fertilizer sources (urea, OMF-N 2:1, OMF-N 1:2, and OMF-N 1:4): i. to analyze the kinetics of N release from OMF-N at times: 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min; ii. for N 2 O emission analysis determined at 3, 6, 10, 14, 24, 44, 54, 64, 74, 84, 104, and 118 days after application to the soil; and iii. for a double factorial design that was adopted to analyze N leaching, consisting of the combination of applying 160 kg N ha −1 of fertilizers in PVC columns at different depths (20, 40, 60, and 80 cm) and analyzed at five times (1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days). FTIR spectroscopic analysis, specific surface area, porosity, and surface morphology showed physicochemical interactions of N of the OMF with biochar; the N from the OMF interacts physically and chemically binds to the functional surfaces of biochar, delaying the dissolution flow. The OMF-N proved capable of retaining 48% to 60% more NH 4 + and reduced the release of N total from urea from 27% to 60%, as well as reduced N 2 O emissions from 47% to 66%. Although absolute CO 2 emissions intensified with the application of OMF-N, its use provides C sequestration in the soil to due to the recalcitrant C of the biochar, which results in a positive input-output balance in the system. The NO 3 − concentration profiles revealed that the OMF-N application was able to reduce leaching in the soil to a depth of 80 cm. These studies enabled better understanding of the processes involved in the biochar:urea interaction and revealed that biochar can be used as an organic matrix in the synthesis of SRF.

Keywords: pyrolyzed biomass; controlled release kinetics; N 2 O emissions; leaching; nitrogen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12388/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12388/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12388-:d:928867

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().