Microspectroscopic visualization of how biochar lifts the soil organic carbon ceiling

Zhe (Han) Weng, Lukas Zwieten (), Ehsan Tavakkoli, Michael T. Rose, Bhupinder Pal Singh, Stephen Joseph, Lynne M. Macdonald, Stephen Kimber, Stephen Morris, Terry J. Rose, Braulio S. Archanjo, Caixian Tang, Ashley E. Franks, Hui Diao, Steffen Schweizer, Mark J. Tobin, Annaleise R. Klein, Jitraporn Vongsvivut, Shery L. Y. Chang, Peter M. Kopittke and Annette Cowie
Additional contact information
Zhe (Han) Weng: Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute
Lukas Zwieten: Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute
Ehsan Tavakkoli: Wagga Wagga Agriculture Institute
Michael T. Rose: Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute
Bhupinder Pal Singh: University of New England
Stephen Joseph: University of Wollongong
Lynne M. Macdonald: CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Waite campus
Stephen Kimber: Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute
Stephen Morris: Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute
Terry J. Rose: Southern Cross University
Braulio S. Archanjo: Quality and Technology (INMETRO)
Caixian Tang: La Trobe University
Ashley E. Franks: La Trobe University
Hui Diao: The University of Queensland
Steffen Schweizer: Technical University of Munich
Mark J. Tobin: Australian Synchrotron, Clayton
Annaleise R. Klein: Australian Synchrotron, Clayton
Jitraporn Vongsvivut: Australian Synchrotron, Clayton
Shery L. Y. Chang: University of New South Wales
Peter M. Kopittke: The University of Queensland
Annette Cowie: University of New England

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract The soil carbon (C) saturation concept suggests an upper limit to the storage of soil organic carbon (SOC). It is set by the mechanisms that protect soil organic matter from mineralization. Biochar has the capacity to protect new C, including rhizodeposits and microbial necromass. However, the decadal-scale mechanisms by which biochar influences the molecular diversity, spatial heterogeneity, and temporal changes in SOC persistence, remain unresolved. Here we show that the soil C storage ceiling of a Ferralsol under subtropical pasture was raised by a second application of Eucalyptus saligna biochar 8.2 years after the first application—the first application raised the soil C storage ceiling by 9.3 Mg new C ha−1 and the second application raised this by another 2.3 Mg new C ha−1. Linking direct visual evidence from one-, two-, and three-dimensional analyses with SOC quantification, we found high spatial heterogeneity of C functional groups that resulted in the retention of rhizodeposits and microbial necromass in microaggregates (53–250 µm) and the mineral fraction (

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32819-7 Abstract (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:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32819-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32819-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().