Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Resilient Agriculture

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1062

Special Issue Editors

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Interests: climate change; biochar; C and N cycling; soil microorganisms

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Soil &Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Interests: biochar; nitrogen fixation; GHGs emission; 13C; 15N

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture faces critical challenges including climate change, soil degradation, and pollutants. These all threaten soil biological fertility by disrupting microbially driven carbon (C) and nutrient cycles. Biochar-based fertilizers offer a promising strategy to reinforce these cycles, enhance ecosystem stability, and buffer against abiotic perturbations through synergistic interactions with soil biota.

This Special Issue invites innovative research that elucidates the role of biochar in shaping biotic drivers of soil fertility amid these challenges.

We welcome a broad spectrum of studies that explore the following:

  • Interactions between biochar, soil microbiomes, and plants, focusing on nutrient dynamics and resilience to stressors.
  • Mechanisms by which biochar enhances microbial dynamics and organic matter cycling for improved ecosystem resilience.
  • Integrated approaches using biochar with other amendments or crop management to optimize nutrient cycling and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The role of biochar in mitigating emerging pollutants in agricultural soils, enhancing degradation, and promoting soil biodiversity.

Submissions with interdisciplinary approaches that connect multi-omics to experimental measurements of carbon and nitrogen fluxes are encouraged. Novel review and opinion articles are also welcomed.

Dr. Qiao Xu
Prof. Dr. Zubin Xie
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biochar
  • soil fertility
  • microbiome
  • nutrient cycling
  • greenhouse gas emissions
  • ecosystem resilience
  • multi-omics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2104 KB  
Article
Biochar-Based Granular Fertilizers with Agro-Industrial Binders Enhance Enzymatic Activity and Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Oxisols
by José Mendes dos Santos Júnior, Luiz Arnaldo Fernandes, Fernando Colen, Leidivan Almeida Frazão and Rodinei Facco Pegoraro
Agronomy 2025, 15(9), 2230; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15092230 - 21 Sep 2025
Viewed by 214
Abstract
The low fertility of tropical Oxisols challenges sustainable agriculture. While biochar-based granular fertilizers (BBGFs) offer a solution, the influence of different organic binders is unclear. This study investigated how BBGFs formulated with bio-oil (BO), pyroligneous extract (PE), and cassava wastewater (CW) impact soil [...] Read more.
The low fertility of tropical Oxisols challenges sustainable agriculture. While biochar-based granular fertilizers (BBGFs) offer a solution, the influence of different organic binders is unclear. This study investigated how BBGFs formulated with bio-oil (BO), pyroligneous extract (PE), and cassava wastewater (CW) impact soil enzyme activities and nutrient dynamics over time. Eucalyptus biochar (B) and natural phosphate (NP) were granulated with three binders at four doses. These treatments, plus controls (unfertilized soil, NP, B with NP, and B alone), were incubated in an Oxisol, assessing soil samples after 10 and 40 days of incubation. All BBGFs significantly enhanced β-glucosidase, acid phosphatase, and arylsulfatase activities over controls, with increases exceeding 8%. While the BBGFs-BO formulation sustained the highest enzymatic activity, BBGFs-PE at 125% maximized acid phosphatase at 10 days, with a subsequent decline, and inhibited arylsulfatase at the 150% dose. BBGFs-CW was most effective for increasing P availability (up to 24.0 mg kg−1). BBGFs-BO and BBGFs-PE also enhanced soil organic carbon and cation exchange capacity by up to 430% and 163%, respectively. The BBGFs-BO at 150% dose is the most effective and stable formulation to enhance nutrient cycling and soil health, offering a viable pathway to convert agricultural residues into high-value fertilizers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar-Based Fertilizers for Resilient Agriculture)
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