Comprehensive Effects of Biochar and Other Soil Additives in Agricultural, Forest and Grassland Ecosystems—2nd Edition
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1008
Special Issue Editor
Interests: nitrogen cycling in soil and its environmental effects; biochar application in agricultural and forestry ecosystems; the eco-benefits of soil and water conservation engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Soil additives, such as biochar, organic fertilizer, nitrification inhibitor, can alleviate stress and improve soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties, thereby enhancing ecosystem services in agriculture, forestry, and grassland while having minimal negative impacts on the environment and acting as soil conditioners. For instance, biochar is a nutrient-rich and polyporous substance produced from biomass that has attracted attention for its uses in soil fertility improvement, crop yield enhancement, and carbon sequestration. In recent years, the use of biochar and other soil additives in agricultural, forest, and grassland production has increased proportionally, as they can improve soil fertility, promote soil microbial activity, reduce bulk density, and improve soil nutrients and water-holding capacity. In addition, soil amendments can increase the availability of nutrients in different soils and increase plant biomass.
This Special Issue will collect articles focusing on the following topics:
- Improving biochar production methods for recycling agricultural and forestry residues;
- Novel soil additives for improving soil health and quality;
- Role of soil additives in soil ecosystems;
- Effects of soil additives on plant and major crop production systems;
- Roles of biochar and biochar-based fertilizers in improving soil properties and promoting plant nutrient uptake;
- Responses of climate change to biochar and other soil additives—review or meta-analysis;
- Soil C and N transformations and the environmental effects resulting from biochar and other soil amendments.
This Special Issue will enable a broad understanding of the sustainable applications of biochar and other typical soil additives in agricultural, forest, and grassland ecosystems.
Prof. Dr. Haijun Sun
Guest Editor
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. Plants 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 2700 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
- biochar
- soil additives
- soil organic carbon
- nitrogen
- global climate change
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