Biochar Compost Biochar compost Application Point - eg. Horticulture Spread - eg. Paddy Biochar compost preparation practice Biochar + compost + green mulch + soil microbes + (pottery shards / fish bones / brick pieces / etc.) Point - Biochar mulching - eg. Horticulture Biochar Prepartion methods - Many. Sustainable Biochar Use for different soils and climatic conditions ? The biochar has been in use in parts of India, since centuries. Biochar is added along with the farm yard manure / compost every year. As the retention time of biochar in soil is very high, the impact is cumulative. In many villages in India, agriculture is at least a few hundred years old (up to 500 years or more). The existing charcoal in the soil as found in majority of the fields is a cumulative contribution of the farmers - intentional / as a practice / by chance. In all types of soils biochar is found. As this practice has become traditional, it is sustainable. This is irrespective of the climate and soil conditions. The quantity of the biochar that we are suggesting for a field devoid of biochar, where such traditional practices were not there it is in tonnes per hectare. Where as in the fields like India, we need to assess the total biochar existing in each field and suggest the quantity of biochar. Still the quantity of biochar for different climatic conditions and soils should be evolved through standard experiments simultaneously done in different latitudes and longitudes. Biochar mulching ? Biochar mulch is application of biochar directly to the plant as we do leaf litter mulching / stone mulching / etc. Biochar mulching is useful to the plants in the following ways: 1. Retention of the soil moisture, reduction of evaporation of water from the soil 2. Reduction in leaching of the bio / chem fertilizers applied 3. Increase in the soil microbes / worms at the biochar and soil interface 4. Regulation of the soil temperture 5. Suppression of weeds if thick biochar mulch is used, by blocking the sunlight the weeds sprouting and growth is suppressed. 6. Repulsion of the termites / ants which might attack the live plants (less dense termites / ants are observed in biochar plots) 7. Over a period of time due to various activities the biochar mixes with the soil, that is good. 8. Prevents soil erosion too. 9. Can increase the ph of the soil towards neutral (mulch very good for acidic soils) Biochar and food security in urban areas ? Biochar when added to the soil the density of the soil composition reduces, therefore it is easy to add as a media for the rooftop gardens. The urine collected from toilets could be diluted and added to the plantations for improved fertility. The biodegradable garbage can be easily disposed of in the roofgarden, as the earthworms density increases with about 3% to 5% of the biochar application. The roof will be cooler due to these gardens. With little water the gardens can be easily maintained. All the urban concrete roof tops could be easily converted into beautiful gardens also address the food security. These gardens give lots of space for the mind.
Potential enhancement of C-loss from soils:
This point is of concern as one need to add more compost / mulch. This potential enhancemet may be attributed to more density of soil microbial activity (residing in the charcoal), as they require food and may be they are using this SOM as food ?
Hydrophobicity of fresh biochar:
Short time or long time finally charcoal looses its Hydrophobicity. As we see in the field, the coolness attributed due to the presence of water in charcoal / moisture attracts many small insects / creatures to take shelter near or under charcoal, including scorpions, etc. as observed in the field.
Biochar in Alkaline soils : The experiments were conducted in the alkaline soils, the farmers are happy with the results. The farmers are convinced that the addition of charcoal along with other amendments has benefited them. Please see all the links in http://www.biocharindia.com
Biochar and India : you say that biochar is traditionally used in India. Do you have an idea of the size of biochar-amended areas, their location, the agricultural practices related to biochar and/or other elements that could help to appraise the importance of biochar and the way it is used in India ? The size of charcoal is being defined by us as we want immediate results. Whereas, the addition of charcoal to the soils is incremental, as small amounts of different sizes of the charcoal from stoves and other activities has found their way into the soil. Over a period of time the large chunks have been converted into small pieces. So we find different grades (sizes) of charcoal in the soil. I always able to easily collect large size pieces of charcoal from the farmers fields. Different size pieces of charcoal serve different purposes in the field. As the benefits of charcoal are related to various aspects, like physical, chemical, biological, etc.
1. whether you think charcoal to be a novel way of binding the carbon to the soil and also increase the fertility of the soil. Yes it is a novel way, it has many values, improving the fertility of the degraded soils (alkaline / acidic / poor / degraded), preventing wasteful burning of millions of tonnes of biomass in the open fields after harvesting the crop and for carbon sequestration.
2. How can that improve the agricultural quality in India, and its effect on the methods of agriculture in India.
The small and marginal farmers can easily adopt to this method very easily, who are the majority. They could be easily trained on charcoal making from the biomass available in their field and surroundings for treating their soils.
3. I think this technique of producing charcoal from burned leaves and mixing it in the soil has been followed in India from some time. Why has it been that no work has been done here in that respect.
In my terrapreta signatures I posted the information - as part of tradition / culture people had been using charcoal and ash in their fields. Such practice is there all over the world, where civilizations existed in the last 5000 years, there is a need to recognize the values and create awareness.
4. Does this charcoal have the same effect on each variety of soil or does it effect varies with each variety of soil?
The affect is based on the amendments made to soil along with charcoal, charcoal alone has very less value to improve the fertility of the soil. other additions are like soil microbes, FYM, vermicompost, Mulch, micro-nutrients, sand, gypsum, fertilizers, silt, etc.
Biochar FAQs is based on the Experiences / observations / learnings of Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy http://www.saibhaskar.com |
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BIOCHAR FAQs |