article · Nitrogen
Intensive agricultural practices have increased food production at the expense of vital soil ecosystem services. Incorporating biochar into soils provides dual benefits for ecological well-being and food security by improving plant nutrition and fertility. Biochar supports water retention, nutrient absorption, carbon sequestration, and soil microbial functions. While the benefits of biochar to soil health and crop yields are widely recognised, the specific characteristics of the biochar itself are critical to optimising these ecosystem functions but are frequently overlooked. Research in this area examines how biochar characteristics influence supporting, regulating, and provisioning soil services simultaneously. In particular, initial feedstock materials and pyrolysis temperatures define the final properties of the biochar, ultimately determining its effectiveness in driving nutrient dynamics and delivering improved crop yields.
Maintaining productive soils while avoiding environmental degradation is a major challenge for global food security. Understanding how production conditions and source materials change biochar characteristics allows for more deliberate use of soil amendments. This knowledge helps align agricultural productivity with long-term ecological resilience through improved nutrient dynamics and soil ecosystem health.
This work relates to the design and tailoring of biochar soil amendments for agricultural producers and biochar manufacturers. Linking feedstock selection and pyrolysis temperature to specific soil ecosystem benefits provides insights for the production of specialised biochars for nutrient management and crop yield enhancement. Because the abstract outlines a review of existing knowledge rather than testing a specific commercial product, the findings represent early-stage conceptual guidance for product development.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Although intensive farming practices have greatly increased food production, they have undermined the soil ecosystem services on which agriculture depends. Biochar application in soils is increasingly gaining worldwide acceptance as a means of addressing these environmental challenges while enhancing agricultural productivity. Biochar offers dual benefits that support food security and ecological well-being through enhanced soil fertility and plant nutrition. These benefits include water retention, promotion of soil microbial functioning, carbon sequestration, and nutrient absorption, among others. In spite of these known benefits, many studies continue to emphasize the roles biochar plays in enhancing soil health and crop yields but often neglect the influence of biochar characteristics, which are key in optimizing these soil ecosystem services. Thus, it is important to understand how biochar characteristics influence soil in supporting, regulating, and provisioning ecosystem services. This review offers a comprehensive and integrative assessment on how biochar’s characteristics influence key soil ecosystem services rather than examining each service individually. The focus is on how biochar feedstock material and pyrolysis temperature determine the characteristics of generated biochar and how these characteristics influence biochar’s efficacy in supplying soil ecosystem services and nutrient dynamics for enhanced crop yields.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3390/nitrogen6020031
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
