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Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture: Feedstocks, Production, and Effects on...
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Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture: Feedstocks, Production, and Effects on the Soil-Plant System

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2025 | Viewed by 2933

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Cícero Célio de Figueiredo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Interests: soil health; soil quality; soil organic matter; soil carbon sequestration; biochar
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. José Ferreira Lustosa Filho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70910-900, Brazil
Interests: biochar; impregnated biochar; phosphate fertilizers
Dr. Keiji Jindo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agrosystems Research, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Interests: organic matter; biochar; bioslurry; smallholder farming; precision agriculture; carbon sequestration; food security
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biochar is a solid material, rich in carbon, obtained by thermochemical processes from various organic residues. Biochar as a soil amendment has been widely studied and the results indicate that it can partially or fully replace chemical fertilizers in agricultural production. However, in some cases, low concentrations or imbalanced nutrients may limit the use of biochar as a fertilizer. In view of this, several strategies have been assessed to make use of biochar as a fertilizer viable. Enriching biochar with one or multiple nutrients is a promising strategy to increase nutrient-use efficiency, reduce final product costs and reduce the environmental damage caused by chemical fertilizers, such as nutrient leaching and greenhouse gas emissions. There are several techniques to enrich biochar with nutrients to produce biochar-based fertilizers, including pre- and post-pyrolysis procedures. The feedstocks used to enrich biochar can be grouped into i) chemical fertilizers; ii) organic wastes; iii) rock dust; iv) minerals; and pure inorganic compounds.

This Special Issue welcomes submissions on biochar-based fertilizers including feedstocks, production, and effects on the soil–plant system.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Cícero Célio de Figueiredo
Dr. José Ferreira Lustosa Filho
Dr. Keiji Jindo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • enriched biochar
  • pyrolysis
  • slow-release fertilizers
  • special fertilizers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 6464 KiB  
Article
Effect of Biochar-Based Organic Fertilizer on the Growth of Maize in Cadmium-Contaminated Soil
by Liyuan Mu, Hongyin Zhou, Ke Yang, Junlei Wang, Sijing Sun, Zhengli Lu, Lijuan Wang, Naiming Zhang and Li Bao
Agriculture 2025, 15(5), 447; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15050447 - 20 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 929
Abstract
China is vigorously promoting green, environmentally friendly, and sustainable agricultural practices, with a strong emphasis on the efficient recycling of biomass resources. In particular, in the field of fertilizer use, the country has clearly stated the need to reduce the application of chemical [...] Read more.
China is vigorously promoting green, environmentally friendly, and sustainable agricultural practices, with a strong emphasis on the efficient recycling of biomass resources. In particular, in the field of fertilizer use, the country has clearly stated the need to reduce the application of chemical fertilizers, improve fertilizer use efficiency, and promote the substitution of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers. This study aims to explore the effects of different application rates of biochar-based organic fertilizers on soil-available nutrients, corn growth, and the inhibition of cadmium absorption and transfer in corn through field experiments. The experiment consisted of 10 treatments, including a blank control (CK), organic fertilizer at 1500 kg/ha (T1), 3000 kg/ha (T2), and 4500 kg/ha (T3), biochar-based organic fertilizer I at 1500 kg/ha (T4), 3000 kg/ha (T5), and 4500 kg/ha (T6), and biochar-based organic fertilizer II at 1500 kg/ha (T7), 3000 kg/ha (T8), and 4500 kg/ha (T9). The results indicate that the surface of the modified biochar exhibited significant fracturing and breakage, with an increase in pore size and pore number. Mn elements were successfully loaded onto the surface of the biochar, and the number of certain original functional groups was increased. Among all treatments, the T9 treatment (biochar-based organic fertilizer II at 4500 kg/ha) showed the best results in improving soil pH, organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, and available potassium, significantly increasing these parameters by 0.69 units, 19.01%, 22.20%, and 36.24%, respectively, compared to the control. The T8 treatment (biochar-based organic fertilizer II at 3000 kg/ha) showed the best effect in reducing soil-available cadmium and cadmium content in corn grains, with reductions of 32.84% and 26.28%, respectively, compared to CK. The T9 treatment also had the most significant effect on increasing corn yield, plant height, crown width, and leaf length, with improvements of 64.08%, 0.16 m, 21.05%, and 9.28%, respectively, compared to CK. Correlation analysis revealed that corn yield, plant height, crown width, and leaf length were significantly positively correlated with soil pH, organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium, while they were significantly negatively correlated with soil-available cadmium content. In summary, the application of organic fertilizers and biochar-based organic fertilizers I and II can improve soil pH, organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium in cadmium-contaminated soils while also significantly enhancing corn yield and growth traits. Moreover, these fertilizers effectively reduce available cadmium in the soil and cadmium content in corn grains. Among the treatments, biochar-based organic fertilizer II performed the best in promoting crop growth, enhancing soil nutrient content, and reducing both soil-available cadmium and corn grain cadmium content, with the effectiveness ranking as follows: biochar-based organic fertilizer II > biochar-based organic fertilizer I > organic fertilizer. The results of this study provide a new approach to the resource utilization of agricultural waste and offer a theoretical basis for safe crop production in the context of heavy metal pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture: Feedstocks, Production, and Effects on the Soil-Plant System)
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14 pages, 2127 KiB  
Article
Oxalic Acid Boosts Phosphorus Release from Sewage Sludge Biochar: A Key Mechanism for Biochar-Based Fertilizers
by Marcela Granato Barbosa dos Santos, Camila Rodrigues Costa, Gilberto de Oliveira Mendes, Andressa Blasi Paiva, Ludmila Soares Peixoto, Jéssica da Luz Costa, Giuliano Marchi, Éder de Souza Martins and Cícero Célio de Figueiredo
Agriculture 2024, 14(9), 1607; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14091607 - 14 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Sewage sludge biochar (SSB) exhibits higher phosphorus (P) concentrations than the original sewage sludge (SS) and can be used as a P fertilizer. However, SSB-associated P is strongly retained in chemical compounds, which hinders its release and subsequent plant uptake. The use of [...] Read more.
Sewage sludge biochar (SSB) exhibits higher phosphorus (P) concentrations than the original sewage sludge (SS) and can be used as a P fertilizer. However, SSB-associated P is strongly retained in chemical compounds, which hinders its release and subsequent plant uptake. The use of organic acids facilitates P solubilization from SSB. Herein, we evaluated the effect of oxalic acid on P release from SSB applied to soil over time. Biochar was produced at 300 °C (SSB300) and 500 °C (SSB500). P release from SSB increased with an increasing concentration of oxalic acid in the SSB incubation solution and in SSB-treated soil. P speciation in SSB showed that P was predominantly inorganic (Pi), which represented 81% and 92% of the total P in SSB300 and SSB500, respectively. Pi in SSB consisted mainly of non-apatite P, accounting for 91% and 96% of all Pi in SSB300 and SSB500, respectively. Because SSB is predominantly insoluble in water, oxalic acid is crucial for the release of P from SSB. Oxalic acid increased P release from SSB300 and SSB500 by 103- and 600-fold, respectively, compared to the control, from which P was extracted with water. Oxalic acid enhancement of P release from SSB increases the possibility of using SSB as a sustainable source of P for agriculture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture: Feedstocks, Production, and Effects on the Soil-Plant System)
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