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Biochar Effects on Soil and Plant Health
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Biochar Effects on Soil and Plant Health

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1946

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Peng Yan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tea Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (TRI CAAS), Hangzhou 310008, China
Interests: ecological low-carbon cultivation technology of tea plantation, soil quality evaluation and improvement, environment impact assessment for agricultural management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Wenhai Mi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
Interests: soil fertility; soil nutrient cycling; controlled-release fertilizer; nitrogen fertilizer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biochar is pyrolyzed by biomass under no oxygen or limited oxygen conditions. Because of its unique physical–chemical characteristics, it has the potential to act as a multi-beneficial amendment to improve soil health, mitigate soil degradation, control soil pollution, increase soil carbon content and improve plant growth. Therefore, the biochar research is now a hot topic across the globe for achieving sustainable agriculture and environment. The major topics of this Special Issue are as follows: 1) Biochar application and soil quality improvement. 2) Biochar application and soil pollution remediation. 3) Biochar application and plant growth. 4) Biochar application and carbon neutralization. 5) Biochar application and agricultural green development. By covering the recent progress in biochar application and research, this Special Issue can move forwards science on biochar research and can also help policy makers worldwide to promote biochar application based on the up-to-date scientific results.

Dr. Peng Yan
Dr. Wenhai Mi
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. 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 quality
  • soil restoration
  • plant nutrition
  • plant growth
  • carbon neutrality
  • sustainable agricultural and environmental

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3846 KiB  
Article
Insight into the Amelioration Effect of Nitric Acid-Modified Biochar on Saline Soil Physicochemical Properties and Plant Growth
by Lei Yan, Guang Gao, Mu Lu, Muhammad Riaz, Mengyang Zhang, Kaiqing Tong, Hualong Yu, Yu Yang, Wenjing Hao and Yusheng Niu
Plants 2024, 13(23), 3434; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13233434 - 6 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Soil salinization is a major factor threatening global food security. Soil improvement strategies are therefore of great importance in mitigating the adverse effect of salt stress. Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of biochar (BC) and nitric acid-modified biochar (HBC) (1%, 2%, [...] Read more.
Soil salinization is a major factor threatening global food security. Soil improvement strategies are therefore of great importance in mitigating the adverse effect of salt stress. Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of biochar (BC) and nitric acid-modified biochar (HBC) (1%, 2%, and 3%; m/m) on the properties of salinized soils and the morphological and physiological characteristics of pakchoi. Compared with BC, HBC exhibited a lower pH and released more alkaline elements, reflected in reduced contents of K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+, while its hydrophilicity and polarity increased. Additionally, the microporous structure of HBC was altered, showing a rougher surface, larger pore size, pore volume, specific surface area, and carboxyl and aliphatic carbon content, along with lower aromatic carbon content and crystallinity. Moreover, HBC application abated the pH of saline soil. Both BC and HBC treatments decreased the sodium absorption rate (SAR) of saline soil as their concentration increased. Conversely, both types of biochar enhanced the cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, and available phosphorus and potassium content in saline soils, with HBC demonstrating a more potent improvement effect. Furthermore, biochar application promoted the growth-related parameters in pakchoi, and reduced proline and Na+ content, whilst increasing leaf K+ content under salt stress. Biochar also enhanced the activity of key antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)) in leaves, and reduced hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Collectively, modified biochar can enhance soil quality and promote plant growth in saline soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar Effects on Soil and Plant Health)
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