Biochar effects on soil restoration in vineyards

Suyan Roberta Isaka

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The use of biochar has increased worldwide in the last years due to improvements for several soil quality indicators. However, restoration potential depends on the type and amount of biochar for each specific soil and land use. This thesis aimed to investigate this restoration potential differential; we conducted an experiment where we amended two contrasting degraded soils with the same biochar. We installed a controlled and fully randomized percolation lysimeter experiment (3 replicates) with 15 lysimeters on a moderately steep slope angle, monitored for one year. In the north-central Portugal at the University of Aveiro. Two types of soil were collected, a low organic matter vineyard soil and a high organic matter forest soil. The viniculture soil was from the district of Aveiro, and the forest one from the district of Coimbra. Biochar was applied at 4% (w/w) for both soils, and an additional treatment at 2% for the forest soil only. Selected soil quality indicators were: soil organic matter, mean weight diameter, aggregate stability, bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity, and moisture content. The present study comprises four data collections in different seasons along the year, enabling to compare the development of the biochar effects on different types of soil and its short- and medium-term behavior. Biochar influence is closely related to soil texture, which was noticed on the different results from each soil. While vineyard soil became less dense, forest soil had no significant effect. Opposite for pH experiments, in which the latter had a small change, the earliest had no changes. With so, this thesis contributes for studies concerning experimental biochar application and soil quality effects comparison. Biochar can become an option to amend degraded soils by modifying its aspects.

Keywords

lysimeters, sustainable alternative, soil degradation

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 1. 4. 2022

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Markéta Hendrychová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Master programme / field:
Landscape Engineering / Landscape Planning