Abstract

Co-application of biochar and biosolids to soil has potential to mitigate N leaching due to physical and chemical properties of biochar. Changes in N cycling pathways in soil induced by co-application of biological amendments could further mitigate N loss, but this is largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to determine whether co-application of a biochar and a modified biosolids product to three pasture soils differing in texture could alter the relative abundance of N cycling genes in soil sown with subterranean clover. The biosolids product contained lime and clay and increased subterranean clover shoot biomass in parallel with increases in soil pH and soil nitrate. Its co-application with biochar similarly increased plant growth and soil pH with a marked reduction in nitrate in two coarse textured soils but not in a clayey soil. While application of the biosolids product altered in silico predicted N cycling functional genes, there was no additional change when applied to soil in combination with biochar. This supports the conclusion that co-application of the biochar and biosolids product used here has potential to mitigate loss of N in coarse textured soils due to N adsoption by the biochar and independently of microbial N pathways.

Details

Title
Co-application of a biosolids product and biochar to two coarse-textured pasture soils influenced microbial N cycling genes and potential for N leaching
Author
Shanmugam Sanjutha 1 ; Jenkins, Sasha N 1 ; Mickan, Bede S 1 ; Jaafar Noraini Md 2 ; Mathes Falko 3 ; Solaiman, Zakaria M 1 ; Abbott, Lynette K 1 

 The University of Western Australia, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment (M079), Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910); The University of Western Australia, UWA Institute of Agriculture (M082), Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910) 
 The University of Western Australia, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment (M079), Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910); The University of Western Australia, UWA Institute of Agriculture (M082), Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910); Universiti Putra Malaysia, Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Serdang, Malaysia (GRID:grid.11142.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2231 800X) 
 The University of Western Australia, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment (M079), Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7910); Bioscience Pty Ltd, Perth, Australia (GRID:grid.1012.2) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2477376787
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.