Soil acidification and salinity: the importance of biochar application to agricultural soils

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Kai Huang¹  Changhong Wu¹  Rongpeng Li¹  Mingquan Li¹  Jinhua Shao²  Ronghui Li³  Fahd Rasul⁴  Muhammad Aamer⁴  Guoqin Huang⁴  Sobia Shahzad⁵  Mohamed Hashem⁶  Saad Almari⁶ 

[1] China Guangxi Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Materials and Structures, Guangxi Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanning, China;China Guangxi Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Materials and Structures, Guangxi Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanning, China;Research Center on Ecological Sciences, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China;College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, Nanning, China;Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan;Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Pakistan;King Khalid University, College of Science, Department of Biology, Abha, Saudi Arabia;

关键词: biochar;    acidic soils;    microbial activity;    nutrient uptake;    salinity;    toxic ions;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1206820

 received in 2023-04-16, accepted in 2023-07-18,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Soil acidity is a serious problem in agricultural lands as it directly affects the soil, crop production, and human health. Soil acidification in agricultural lands occurs due to the release of protons (H+) from the transforming reactions of various carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur-containing compounds. The use of biochar (BC) has emerged as an excellent tool to manage soil acidity owing to its alkaline nature and its appreciable ability to improve the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. The application of BC to acidic soils improves soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), nutrient uptake, microbial activity and diversity, and enzyme activities which mitigate the adverse impacts of acidity on plants. Further, BC application also reduce the concentration of H+ and Al3+ ions and other toxic metals which mitigate the soil acidity and supports plant growth. Similarly, soil salinity (SS) is also a serious concern across the globe and it has a direct impact on global production and food security. Due to its appreciable liming potential BC is also an important amendment to mitigate the adverse impacts of SS. The addition of BC to saline soils improves nutrient homeostasis, nutrient uptake, SOM, CEC, soil microbial activity, enzymatic activity, and water uptake and reduces the accumulation of toxic ions sodium (Na+ and chloride (Cl-). All these BC-mediated changes support plant growth by improving antioxidant activity, photosynthesis efficiency, stomata working, and decrease oxidative damage in plants. Thus, in the present review, we discussed the various mechanisms through which BC improves the soil properties and microbial and enzymatic activities to counter acidity and salinity problems. The present review will increase the existing knowledge about the role of BC to mitigate soil acidity and salinity problems. This will also provide new suggestions to readers on how this knowledge can be used to ameliorate acidic and saline soils.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Huang, Li, Li, Rasul, Shahzad, Wu, Shao, Huang, Li, Almari, Hashem and Aamer