Enhanced irreversible sorption of carbaryl to soils amended with crop-residue-derived biochar

The irreversible sorption-desorption of carbaryl in five soil types with crop-residue-derived biochar (CBC) amendment was determined. CBC has lower surface area and micropores volume than wood-based biochar and charcoal. However, CBC amendment (0.5%) still significantly enhanced the hysteresis effect on soils, with a 1.7- to 2.8-fold increase in the hysteresis index (HI) values. The HI values increased exponentially with the increased amount of CBC but decreased exponentially with the increased amount of soil organic matter (SOM%). Furthermore, the irreversible carbaryl sorption (q(irr)) and the irreversibility index (I-irr) values were proportional to the amount of CBC (0-1.0%) in soils. Likewise, the SOM-rich soil (S3) was washed ten times to reduce its SOM% to evaluate the influence of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the soils on the irreversible sorption. The I-irr values of the unamended S3 increased as the number of sorption-desorption cycles increased, whereas those of the 1.0% CBC-amended S3 decreased. In addition, the I-irr values of the unwashed S3 were lower than those of the washed S3. By contrast, the I-irr values of the 1.0% CBC-amended S3 soil were higher in the unwashed samples than in the washed samples. These results suggested that DOM had opposite effects on the irreversible carbaryl sorption by unamended and CBC-amended soils. The DOM release may expose more irreversible adsorption sites in the soils and may cover the surface of the CBC to form a desorption-resistant fraction in its mesopore or macropore regions, thereby preventing the desorption of adsorbed carbaryl molecules. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.