Recipient Organization
USDA, ARS - SC.W(29501-1242)
2611 West Lucas Street
Florence,SC 29501-1242
Performing Department
Coastal Plain Research Center
Non Technical Summary
Project summary--In the near future, agricultural production will need to be intensified to provide the world's burgeoning population with sustainable food and fiber supplies utilizing the same or smaller land base. Intensification of agricultural production is known to increase soil erosion, loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), and heightened uses of fertilizer resulting in a strong potential of soil and atmospheric degradation. As a countermeasure to these agronomic and environmental issues, the application of biochar to soils is widely discussed as a potential mitigation tool. Biochar is hypothesized to be capable of rebuilding soil quality, binding with organic amendments, and reducing greenhouse gas (e.g., CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions, however, universal guidelines for its use as a soil amendment and climate mitigation tool are lacking. Biochars' performance as a soil amendment has so far been evaluated under regional-specific land uses, crop management, and soils possessing heterogeneous characteristics. This approach has lead to the development of fragmented biochar policy and management platforms relevant to these regions, but lacking a holistic vision. Due to the immense complexity in soils and biochar types, our ability to predict these beneficial effects in different soils and land uses across the globe is currently limited. A preferred pathway is to design biochars that have properties tailored to improve specific soil conditions. The designer biochar concept has been often discussed among researchers, but guidelines for its creation and use are still in its infancy. The approach of designing biochars for specific soil purposes requires the scientific exchange of biochar performance results and information between scientists, stakeholders, and collaborators. Creating a worldwide scientific biochar exchange network through this designchar4food (D4F) proposal, will allow the development of suitable biochar management strategies at regional levels to be evaluated and integrated into a coherent global policy platform that sustains agricultural productivity and food security. The aim of this DF4 proposal is to create a biochar guidance plan for the production of well defined biochars with suitable properties. In this plan, forums will be proposed whereby scientists, stakeholders, and potential users from across the globe can share their scientific results, discuss new approaches, and develop plans to commercially produce, and evaluate designer biochars. These forums will be facilitated by annual biochar workshops, monthly teleconferences (webinars), specialized web-based databases, email list servers, brochures, and newsletters to insure that results are shared among scientists, biochar users, commercial manufacturers, and policy makers. Integral to this effort is the development of a computer based model capable of predicting environmental and agricultural responses of biochar use in soils across the globe. Synthesis of this global biochar data will provide numerous synergistic relationships to be developed, such as with the Global Research Alliance (GRA) to include designer biochar as one possible mitigation management tool as we strive for sustainable environmental stewardship.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
25%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
1. Coordinate, and integrate detached soil, agronomic, and biogeochemical results, data pools, and most recent insights related to biochars use as an effective soil amendment and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction agent.2. Design and assess agronomic, commercial, and technological solutions to compose custom-design biochars that may enhance soil fertility, improve water retention, and cause a reduction in GHG emissions.3. Determine how biochar interacts with soil minerals and organic compartments in soils and how these interactions can be altered by land use changes from forest/pastures to cropland or with changes in soil conditions due to climate variability.4. Transfer project knowledge gains directly to farmers, stakeholders, andGlobal Research Alliance teams, through workshops,newsletters and development of 'iCHARnet'.5. Establish travel locations and schedule dates for a kickoff, mid-term, and final workshop scheduled to coincide with national and international biochar, agricultural, and environmental meetings.
Project Methods
A. Scientists in the USDA-ARS- The USDA-ARS has scientists skilled in biochar manufacture and assessment of its reactions in soils. Moreover, these scientists have access to many types of lignocellulosic- and manure-based feedstocks. The varieties of feedstocks are readily available from field crop research projects as well as cooperators. Feedstocks and their blends can be pre processed using chippers and pelletizer prior to 'in-house' pyrolysis. Blending the feedstocks and pre-processing them into different particle sizes are some of the key components available to manufacture designer biochars. These feedstocks can then be pyrolyzed between 300 to 700°C with a Lindburg pyrolyzer. Capabilities also exist with ARS colleagues to include biochars evaluation at both small and large scales experiments under a variety of row, grain, and biofuel crop production scenarios. In these experiments, they are measuring CO2 N2O and CH4 gas fluxes under laboratoryand field conditions. A more aggressive approach with evaluating biochars impact on soil GHG production/consumption is being conducted by Dr. Spokas and Venterea at the USDA-ARS-St. Paul location. Within the ARS-St. Paul location, there are four separate GHG monitoring GC systems available, which are capable of analyzing over 650 samples per day.G.2. Participants from Spain: The Spanish D4F participants consist of two separate research institutions. The first team is from the IRNAS center. This facility is a center of the Spanish Science Research Council (CSIC), a self governing body responsible to the Spanish Government. The service units include a research station with an area of 40 ha. The different soil types, its facilities for different irrigation and tillage practices, and the existing herbaceous and woody crops, representative of those in the area, make the farm of great utility for the development of many research projects. The technical assistance of IRNAS performs numerous analytical determinations of soils, plants, waters, fertilizers, and residues, and provides advice both for internal projects and the request of farmers and agro-alimentary firms in the region. The IRNAS team is formed by scientists from the Agrochemistry and Soil Conservation department, with expertise in different aspects of soil science and surface chemistry. The IRNAS center also has access to organic residues from agricultural origin feedstock such as rice hulls and olive mill waste, the latter generated in large amounts and in a short period of time, thus representing a major environmental issue. The effect of these residues on pesticide fate has been investigated under laboratory and field conditions. Specific surface area and porosity measurements of the generated biochars and biochar mixtures are available, as well as FT-IR, fluorescence spectroscopy and NMR techniques for biochar characterization, especially its soluble fraction. The second D4F team from Spain is located at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and is composed of three senior researchers (Dr. C González-Murua, Dr. JM Estavillo and Dr. MB González-Moro) and two postdoctoral researchers (Dr. S Menendez and Dr. T Fuertes-Mendizabal). Their main research is focused on the "Efficiency of Nitrogen in Agro-Forest systems (production, quality and minimization of the environmental impact)", studying in depth the fundamentals of metabolic and physiological aspects in plants in order to help decide agronomic measures in relation to the rational use of fertilizers and phyto-sanitary products. The UPV/EHU team has the capability of developing experiments to evaluate biochar at different scales (laboratory, greenhouse and field) given different aspects of biochar response (plant physiological, crop yield and quality response, and GHG emissions response). Regarding analytical instrumentation, the general techniques of a plant physiology laboratory are available with specific facilities for metabolites, enzyme activities and gene-expression determinations. An IRGA (Infra Red Gas Analysis) equipment is available (LICOR LI-6400XT) for the measurement of photosynthesis-related gas exchange parameters (CO2 assimilation and transpiration rates) by which the effect of biochar on plant water availability (water use efficiency) can be measured. For the determination of GHG emissions after biochar application in either laboratory, greenhouse or field experiments, CO2, N2O and CH4 emissions can be determined both by means of a Phytoaccoustic Multi-gas Monitor (INNOVA-1312)or by means of a Gas-Chromatograph (Agilent, 7890A) equipped with an electron capture detector for N2O detection and a flame ionization detector for CH4.G.3. Participants from Germany: Scientists from the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (FZJ) have the technical knowledge and analytical capabilities to be active partners in the D4F proposal. They have a multi-faceted approach for carbon and nitrogen dynamics in soil-plant-atmosphere interactions. Overall, their research is categorized into three areas: 1) Modelling of Terrestrial Systems, 2) Environmental Processes and Technologies, and 3) Terrestrial Biogeochemistry. Research to assess environmental processes is conducted at small and large scales that require usage of sophisticated analytical equipment including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance or Electromagnetic Induction spectroscopy. The Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences is a young university that has only last year moved to its modern campus with state-of-the-art labs and a high-tech greenhouse with chambers allowing controlled temperature from temperate to tropical conditions. Dr. Nicole Wrage-Moennig is a specialist on measuring N2O production and differentiating among its soil sources. Furthermore, her interest lies in understanding the relations between climatic changes and conditions of production, including microbial and plant biodiversity. The group at this university is well equipped for measuring CO2, NH3, N2O and CH4 emissions as well as soil fertility in incubation, greenhouse, and field studies. The research group at Justus-Liebig University Giessen (Dr. C. Kammann) has access to the full range of field and laboratory facilities (including growth chambers and open-top chambers for elevated CO2 experiments) to conduct biochar incubation and field studies. An active biochar program exists at the Institute with (currently) four large-scale, long-term biochar field studies in sandy SOC poor soil, loamy fertile soil, and poorly-drained clay soils using the same EBC-certified biochar; the fourth experiment takes places place in grassland, mimicking Chernozem (Mollisol) formation, and a fifth field experiment in Hessian pine-hornbeam forest periodically prone to drought stress will commence in winter 2013/2014. At their facility, analytical instruments for their research includes gas chromatography analyses for GHG, soil N dynamics, and methods to measure the full range of plant-soil variables, and interactions in the field (C/N analyser, plant physiological equipment, automated chambers for soil respiration, etc.). The group has a long-history of the development of stable isotope tracing tools, including the development and analytical capabilities via process-based numerical models that allow for quantifying gross rather than net N transformations and the origin of N2O emissions. The group is also experienced in adapting standardized biological test procedures (DIN-ISO-VDI) for biochar testing to assess risks, potential and functional mechanisms of the effects of biochars on plant performance; and the group is well connected to a number of German (speaking) biochar producers, stakeholders, and users.