Differences in soil properties and crop yields after application of biochar blended with farmyard manure in sandy and loamy soils

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of biochar application in world´s soils have increased tendency mainly due to its opposite effects. Therefore, the effort of many companies is based on the development of soil amendment which together improved properties and crop productivity in a lot of soils. In this short study, we have verified the effectiveness of biochar blended with farmyard manure named Effeco on soil properties and crop yields in different textural soils (1. sandy soil in Dolná Streda and 2. loamy soil in Veľké Uľany). Our results showed that the Effeco increased soil pH in both soils. In sandy soil, the Effeco more significantly affected sorptive parameters and soil organic carbon content than in loamy soil. Water retention in capillary pores after Effeco application in sandy and loamy soils was higher by 22% and 4%, respectively compared to control. On the other hand, more significant effect of Effeco application on soil structure was observed in loamy soil. The total crop productions in sandy and loamy soils due to the Effeco application were higher by 82% and 16%, respectively, compared to control plots. All in all, we concluded that the effects of biochar blended with farmyard manure differ mainly on soil texture.

Full text

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© Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra
Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources
1 Introduction
Long-term and mainly intensive soil management
practices have negative eects on soils properties and
often results in their degradation include soil acidication,
decrease of soil organic matter, soil structure stability,
porosity, water retention etc. (Polláková et al., 2018;
Kotorová et al., 2018). Afundamental factor which alter
soil properties is soil organic matter (Szombathová, 2010)
and therefore, the eective maintenance of soil organic
matter in degraded soils can help preserve soil fertility.
In last time, biochar has becoming a great of interest as
a mean for carbon sequestration, resulting from its high
content of carbon and long-term persistence in soil (Dong
et al., 2019). Biochar is the solid product of pyrolysis,
designed to be used for environmental management
(Lehmann et al., 2015). IBI (2013) denes biochar
as: A solid material obtained from thermochemical
conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment.
Biochar can be used as a product itself or as an ingredient
within a blended product, with range of applications
as an agent for soil improvement, improved resource
use eciency, remediation and/or protection against
particular environmental pollution and as an avenue
for greenhouse gas mitigation. The biochar properties
can be dierent in relation to type of feedstock source,
temperature and time of pyrolysis, pressure and soil type
where the biochar is applied (Jeery et al., 2011; Wang
et al., 2013; Ahmad et al., 2014). For example, biochar
produced from grasses at temperatures 250–400°C had
higher mineralisation rate (Zimmerman et al., 2011) than
biochar produced at high temperatures (525–650 °C)
and from hard woods (Fischer and Glaser, 2012). Biochar
produced from manure usually has smaller surface area,
than biochar pro duced from wood. The higher tempera-
ture increases the content of carbon and the surface area
in biochar while the content of oxygen and hydrogen
de creases (Lopez-Capel et al., 2016).
Under above mentioned context is evident that biochar
properties and its acts in dierent soil-climatic condition
are dierent. For farmers is, however essential whether
the application of biochar improves soil fertility, increases
crop yields and brings economic prot. Manufacture
of biochar that would improve all soil characteristics
and also bring the economic eect is not an easy task.
Dierences in soil properties and crop yields after application of biochar
blended with farmyard manure in sandy and loamy soils
Vladimír Šimanský*, Dušan Šrank, Martin Juriga
Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
Article Details: Received: 2018-07-07 | Accepted: 2018-01-18 | Available online: 2019-01-31
https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2019.22.01.21-25
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
In recent years, the importance of biochar application in world´s soils have increased tendency mainly due to its opposite eects.
Therefore, the eort of many companies is based on the development of soil amendment which together improve properties and
crop productivity in lot of soils. In this short study, we have veried the eectiveness of biochar blended with farmyard manure
named Eeco on soil properties and crop yields in dierent textural soils (1. sandy soil in Dolná Streda and 2. loamy soil in Veľké
Uľany). Our results showed that the Eeco increased soil pH in both soils. In sandy soil, the Eeco more signicantly aected
sorptive parameters and soil organic carbon content than in loamy soil. Water retention in capillary pores after Eeco application
in sandy and loamy soils was higher by 22% and 4%, respectively compared to control. On the other hand, more signicant eect
of Eeco application on soil structure was observed in loamy soil. The total crop productions in sandy and loamy soils due to the
Eeco application were higher by 82% and 16%, respectively, compared to control plots. All in all, we concluded that the eects of
biochar blended with farmyard manure dier mainly on soil texture.
Keywords: Eeco, sorptive parameters, soil organic matter, water retention, soil structure, loamy soil, sandy soil
*Corresponding Author: Vladimír Šimanský. Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Department of Soil Science, Faculty
of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Trieda Andreja Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovak Republic, e-mail:
vladimir.simansky@uniag.sk. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3271-6858X
Short communication

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© Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra
Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources
Acta fytotechn zootechn, 22, 2019(1): 21–25
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Scientic studies show that the eciency of biochar
can be improved by its combination with application
with other organic fertilizers, composts, NPK fertilizers.
For this reason, fertilizer manufacturers are working
to create products that combine biochar with other
soil fertility enhancers in one suitable for dierent soil-
climatic conditions. For example, a scientic studies and
own research activities of the company Zdroje Zeme
a.s. helped to developed soil amendment for activation
intensively used land named Eeco (combination biochar
together with farmyard manure in volume 1 : 1) and
within this short study, we have veried the eectiveness
of Eeco on soil properties and crop yields in dierent
textural soils.
2 Material and methods
Field experiments were performed at two sites with
texturally dierent soils. Before established experiments,
the soils in both localities were intensively used. The sites
description is given in Table 1. For the purposes of this
short study, soil samples were taken from two treatments:
1. Control (no fertilized) and 2. Eeco amendment (at rate
of 20 t ha-1) in the autumn 2018 in both study sites. In
soil samples, soil pH, sorptive characteristics, soil organic
carbon, physical and hydro-physical properties were
evaluated by standard methods (Hrivňáková et al., 2011).
Yields of crops were also evaluated.
3 Results and disscussion
El-Naggar et al. (2019) published that the role of biochar
application in the enhancement of soil fertility and
productivity can be categorized into aspects relating
to nutrient cycling, crop productivity, soil pH, cation
exchange capacity (CEC), nitrogen (N), microbial
communities, water retention, and C sequestration and
our results mentioned aspects also conrmed (Table
2). In sandy soil, original neutral soil pH increased to
slightly alkaline due to Eeco application. The increase
of soil pH by 0.26 pH unit was determined also in loamy
soil. Ibrahim et al. (2013) also reported increases in pH
in a biochar amended sandy and loamy soils. In our
cases, a higher decrease of hydrolytic acidity after Eeco
application in sandy soil than loamy soil was observed.
Some dierences between soils in values of sum of basic
cation and CEC were as result of Eeco application. In
sandy soil, the Eeco signicantly increased sum of basic
cations and on the other hand in loamy soil its eects
were opposite. In sandy and loamy soils, the CEC values
were very low and high, respectively. In sandy soil, the
CEC values after Eeco increased by 30% compared to no
fertilized plot. The main reason is related to particle size
distribution (low sorption capacity of sand particles) and
higher level of soil organic matter after Eeco application.
Opposite situation in loamy soil was determined. The
CEC values decreased. The decrease of CEC is related to
negative charge in the Eeco surface and absorption of
anions is preferred. These results conrmed the ndings
of Laghari et al. (2015) who reported increase of CEC due
to potentially high surface functional group content of
biochar mainly in sandy-textured soils.
Biochar addition has been shown to increase organic
carbon in soils (Agegnehu et al. 2016). Soil minerals and
organic matter associate with biochar tended to form
aggregates in which the biochar turned occluded from
Table 1 Characteristics of studied sites
Site Climatic Soil Soil management Crop
andprevious crop
Establishment
ofexperiment
Conditions
Dolná Streda 9–10 °C
520–600 mm
Haplic Arenosol
(Arenic, Calcic)
sandy soil
reduced soil management
(disking to the depth 15 cm) –
growing of market crops
sunower
hard wheat autumn 2017
Veľké Ulany 10 °C
550 mm
Vermic Chernozem
(Mollic, Loamic)
loamy soil
intensive soil management,
included drip irrigation
(conventional tillage to the depth
20 cm) – vegetable growing
capsicum
carrot spring 2018
Table 2 Soil pH, sorptive parameters and soil organic carbon content
Sities Treatment pH H SBC CEC Bs SOC
Dolná Streda
(sandy soil)
control 7.24 4.02 36.0 40 90.0 0.90
Eeco 7.43 3.21 48.8 52.0 93.8 1.13
Veľké Uľany
(loamy soil)
control 7.63 2.53 492.3 494.8 99.5 1.85
Eeco 7.89 2.19 488.5 490.6 99.6 1.88
H – hydrolytic acidity, SBC – sum of basic cations, CEC – cation exchange capacity, Bs – base saturation, SOC – soil organic carbon

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© Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra
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chemical degradation or transport (Brodowski et al.,
2006), which could be the main reason of C increase in the
aggregates and one of the most important mechanism
of C sequestration in soils (Šimanský et al., 2017). In
Eeco plot, the content of SOC was higher by 26% in
comparison to control in sandy soil and the same trend
but no signicant was observed in loamy soil (Table 2).
In sandy soil, between treatments any signicant
dierences were not determined for bulk density and
total porosity, however, the volume of energetics pores
dier on Eeco (Figure 1 A, B). In Eeco treatment, the
volume of semi-capillary and capillary pores increased
by 10 or 22% respectively on one hand, and decreased
volume of non-capillary pores by 20% on the other. The
volume of non-capillary, capillary and semi-capillary
represented 39, 48 or 13% of the total porosity because
of Eeco application, whereas in the case of control it was
49, 39 and 12% of the total porosity. In Eeco treatment
values of capillary absorption, maximum capillary water
capacity and retention water capacity were 32.6%, 27.4%
and 24.4%, respectively, and in control these one was
27.8%, 23.2% and 20%, respectively. Eeco application
almost one-time increased available water supply and
also available water capacity compared to control. In
loamy soil, the Eeco did not have any signicant eects
on energetics pore categories (Figure 1 C, D), capillary
absorption, maximum capillary water capacity, retention
water capacity and available water capacity (Table 3).
On the other hand, Eeco applied to the loamy soil
increased by 37% available water supply. Our results
in both soils did not conrm positive biochar eect on
decrease of bulk density on one hand and increase of
total porosity on other (Ajayi and Horn, 2016; Obia et al.,
2016), however, our results conrmed positive eects of
biochar on water holding capacity (Haider et al., 2017;
Omondi et al., 2016) mainly in sandy soil. Water retention
in capillary pores after Eeco application in sandy and
loamy soils was higher by 22% and 4%, respectively,
compared to control. The potential of biochar addition for
improving physical soil properties was mainly observed
in coarse-textured and low fertility soils (Laghari et al.,
2015; Omondi et al., 2016). From the soil structure point
of view, these results were not obviously conrmed.
As shown in Table 4, in sandy soil, the Eeco treatment
had no signicant eects on contents of water-stable
aggregates in comparison to control. Despite this fact,
the better soil structure (higher values of MWDw by 6%
and K by 30%) after Eeco treatment than no fertilized
(control) plot was determined. In case of loamy soil, after




Figure 1 Volume of pores in sandy soil (A, B) and in loamy soil (C, D) after Eeco application (A, C) and in no fertilized treatments
(B, D)
Pn – volume of non-capillary pores, Pc – volume of capillary pores, Ps – volume of semi-capillary pores

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Eeco application the situation was signicantly better in
all evaluated soil structure parameters compared to the
sandy soil. The Eeco reduced the content of WSAmi on
one hand, and increased content of WSAma and WSAma
0.5–3 on the other. In the Eeco treatment the values of
MWDw and K were almost one times higher than control.
Biochar application to low fertility soils may also
substantially enhance crop production (Laghari et al.,
2015; Zhang et al., 2017) what conrmed our results
(Figure 2). Application of Eeco (blended biochar
with farmyard manure) at rate of 20 t ha-1 signicantly
increased grain yield of sunower in comparison to no
fertilized plots in sandy soil. The same eect was observed
in case of loamy soil. The total yields of peppers were
higher by 16% in Eeco treatment (20 t ha-1) than control
plot. During vegetation season of peppers, a total of
three harvests of peppers have been done. The changes
in yields between individual harvests are shown in Figure
2 B. In comparison to control, the Eeco application in 1st,
2nd and 3th harvests increased yield of peppers by 6, 15
and 20%, respectively. Dierences between sandy and
loamy soils in total yields of crops were observed too.
The total crop productions in loamy and sandy soils due
to the Eeco application were higher by 16% and 82%,
respectively, as compared to control plots in both soils.
As presented Laghari et al. (2015) but also Van Zwieten et
al. (2010) the increase in crop productivity from biochar
application is most commonly observed in nutrient-poor
and degraded soils.
All in all, we concluded that the biochar blended with
farmyard manure improved soil properties, but its
eects dier mainly on soil texture. The results of this
short study also indicate that the application of biochar
in combination with farmyard manure can be useful
Table 3 Physical and hydro-physical properties
Sities Treatment ρd P ΘKN ΘMCWC ΘRWC ΘAWC AWS
Dolná Streda
(sandy soil)
control 1.260.16 50.7±6.08 27.8±2.33 23.2±3.18 20.0±2.76 13.7±3.11 5.01±2.59
Eeco 1.260.13 50.7±4.88 32.6±0.57 27.4±1.34 24.4±1.56 17.4±1.84 9.07±3.15
Veľké Uľany
(loamy soil)
control 1.36±0.08 46.0±3.54 38.3±2.55 34.6±1.48 31.6±0.21 24.5±0.99 11.6±0.21
Eeco 1.36±0.02 47.4±1.20 38.7±0.85 34.6±0.99 33.0±1.06 25.6±2.19 15.9±1.77
Ρd – bulk density, P – total porosity, ΘKN – capillary absorption, ΘMCWC – maximum capillary water capacity, ΘRWC – retention water capacity,
ΘAWC – available water capacity, AWS – available water supply
Table 4 Soil structure parameters
Sities Treatment WSAmi WSAma WSAma 0.5–3 MWDw K
Dolná Streda
(sandy soil)
control 18.2±2.04 81.8±2.04 43.7±1.86 0.53±0.04 0.82±0.01
Eeco 19.5±4.67 80.5±4.67 40.0±4.06 0.56±0.09 1.07±0.06
Veľké Uľany
(loamy soil)
control 41.2±6.83 58.8±6.83 15.1±0.49 0.42±0.05 0.70±0.07
Eeco 21.6±4.95 78.4±4.95 36.8±10.8 0.92±0.12 1.22±0.04
WSAmi – water-stable micro-aggergates, WSAma – water-stable macro-aggregates, MWDw – mean weight diameter for wet sieving, K – structure
coecient


Figure 2 Yields of A) sunower grains, and B) peppers fruits
yield of pepper in 1st, 2nd, 3rd harvests

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method for sustainable soil management in arable soils
of Slovakia.
Acknowledgments
Authors thank very much for nancial support the
company Zdroje Zeme a.s. (The Earth´s Resources, Ltd.)
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