The combined effects of nitrogen fertilizer and biochar on soil aggregation, N2O emission, and yield from a vegetable field in southeastern China

Biochar amendment is a recently promoted agricultural management strategy that can exert distinct impacts on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving soil fertility and crop productivity. This study aims to evaluate the combined effects of biochar and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on soil aggregation, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, global warming potential (GWP), vegetable yield, and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI). The experiments were conducted in a vegetable field with two consecutive vegetable crops in 2019 and 2020 in southeastern China. There were four treatments: control (CK), conventional N fertilizer (U), biochar applied at 15 t ha(-1) with N fertilizer (UB1), and biochar applied at 30 t ha(-1) with N fertilizer (UB2). The results indicate that while N application significantly increased N2O emission of the vegetable field, both UB1 and UB2 led to significant reductions of the total N2O emission, GWP, and yield-scaled GHGI as well as significant growth of the total vegetable crop yield compared with U. However, no significant differences have been found in N2O emission, GWP, crop yield, and yield-scaled GHGI between UB1 and UB2. Meanwhile, biochar application in addition to N fertilizer did not result in any significant change in the soil water-stable aggregate size distribution and stability compared with U. Soil water-stable aggregates smaller than 0.25 mm and those larger than 5 mm have been found to significantly impact N2O emission and vegetable yield.

Automated summary

The combined application of biochar and nitrogen fertilizer can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve soil fertility, and increase crop yield. The results of this study show that the application of biochar and nitrogen fertilizer can significantly reduce nitrous oxide emissions, global warming potential, and greenhouse gas intensity, while significantly increasing vegetable yield. The use of biochar in addition to nitrogen fertilizer does not have additional effects compared to using nitrogen fertilizer alone.