Impact of Biochar Amendment on Fertility of a Southeastern Coastal Plain Soil

Agricultural soils in the southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain region have meager soil fertility characteristics because of their sandy textures, acidic pH values, kaolinitic clays, low cation exchange capacities, and diminutive soil organic carbon contents. We hypothesized that biochar additions will help ameliorate some of these fertility problems. The study objectives were to determine the impact of pecan shell-based biochar additions on soil fertility characteristics and water leachate chemistry for a Norfolk loamy sand (fine-loamy, kaolinitic, thermic typic Kandiudults). Soil columns containing 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% (wt/wt) biochar were incubated at 10% (wt/wt) moisture for 67 days. On days 25 and 67, the…

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  Clemson University