Phosphorus Release from Dairy Manure, the Manure-Derived Biochar, and Their Amended Soil: Effects of Phosphorus Nature and Soil Property

Land application of animal manure often risks excessive phosphorus (P) release into the surrounding water. The aim of this study was to convert the dairy manure into biochar, followed by their application into soil, and then to investigate P release from the manure and its derived biochar as well as from the manure-and biochar-amended soil. The results showed that P release was reduced when the manure was converted into biochar due to formation of less-soluble whitlockite [(Ca, Mg)(3)(PO4)(2)]. The cumulative P released from biochar over 240 h was 0.26 g kg(-1), a 76% reduction of that from the manure (1.07 g kg(-1)). The kinetic release of P from the manure was determined by the fast desorption process and was better fitted to Elovich equation, whereas P release from biochar was initially controlled by the diffusion process and then by slow but steady dissolution of (Ca,Mg)(3)(PO4)(2), following the parabolic diffusion and linear models, respectively. When the manure or biochar was incorporated into the soil, P release in the CaCl2 and simulated acid rain water extraction from biochar-amended soil was consistently lower than that from the manure-amended soil during 210-d incubation. The lower P release in the biochar-amended soil was determined by stable P form (Ca,Mg)(3)(PO4)(2) in the biochar itself, but less from the soil property effect. Results indicated that initial high P release from manure can be mitigated by converting the manure into biochar.