Biochar affects the structure rather than the total biomass of microbial communities in temperate soils

Authors

• Elena Anders Environmental Resources and Technologies, Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Andrea Watzinger Environmental Resources and Technologies, Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Franziska Rempt Environmental Resources and Technologies, Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Barbara Kitzler Institute of Soil Biology, Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape
• Bernhard Wimmer Environmental Resources and Technologies, Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
• Franz Zehetner Institute of Soil Research, Department of Forestry and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
• Karl Stahr Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University Hohenheim
• Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern Institute of Soil Research, Department of Forestry and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
• Gerhard Soja Environmental Resources and Technologies, Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.8095

Keywords:

biochar, PLFAs, soil microbial communities, temperate soil

Abstract

Biochar application is a promising strategy for sequestering carbon in agricultural soils and for improving degraded soils. Nonetheless, contradictory and unsettled issues remain. This study investigates whether biochar influences the soil microbial biomass and community structure using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. We monitored the effects of four different types of biochar on the soil microbial communities in three temperate soils of Austria over several months. A greenhouse experiment and two field experiments were conducted. The biochar application did not significantly increase or decrease the microbial biomass. Only the addition of vineyard pruning biochar pyrolysed at 400°C caused microbial biomass to increase in the greenhouse experiment. The biochar treatments however caused shifts in microbial communities (visualized by principal component analysis). We concluded that the shifts in the microbial community structure are an indirect rather than a direct effect and depend on soil conditions and nutrient status.