Evaluating the environmental and agronomic implications of bone char and biochar applications to loamy sand based on sorption data

BackgroundThe widely adopted use of charred biomass for agronomic and environmental purposes; and the reported positive and deleterious effects necessitated the need for this study to ascertain the potential causes of the erratic results surrounding the use of charred biomass in agriculture and the environment. A batch sorption experiment was carried out to determine the sorptive and desorptive capacity of bone char and biochar on nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and sulphate concentrations in a loamy sand soil. The potential agronomic and environmental implications of the sorption data were also discussed.ResultsThe results indicated that bone char is richer in nutrient composition than biochar, with 70% more ability to sorb nutrients. The bone char and biochar sorption isotherms conformed to the H-curve isotherm type. Bone char and biochar have multiple layers of adsorption sites. Nutrient adsorption maxima, binding energy, and maximum buffering capacities of the soil were increased with the addition of bone char and biochar. The unamended soil was observed to retain as low as 6% of added nitrate to as much as 58% of added phosphate, while bone char retained 56% of added sulphate, 47% of phosphate, 76% nitrate and 64% of ammonium. Generally, bone char retained 60.6% of the added nutrients, while biochar retained 40.7% of the nutrients. The addition of bone char led to a 45.8% increase in the nutrient retention ability of the soil and a 36.1% increase with the addition of biochar.ConclusionThe nutrient sorption characteristics of biochar should be studied prior to its use as a soil nutrient amendment. It was concluded that bone char or biochar is a potential soil nutrient immobilizer; hence, applications for agronomic purposes should take cognizance of the native soil fertility so as to appropriately add fertilizer input before use.