BIOCHAR DOSAGE AND GRANULOMETRY INFLUENCING SOIL DENSITY AND WATER RETENTION

MIRANDA NEYTON DE OLIVEIRA¹, PIMENTA ALEXANDRE SANTOS²*, SILVA GUALTER GUENTHER COSTA DA³, CARVALHO MARY ANNE BARBOSA DE⁴, OLIVEIRA ERMELIND AMARIA MOTA^5
1Department of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Federal Rural University of Semiarid, Brazil
²Agricultural Sciences Unit, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
³Agricultural Sciences Unit, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
⁴Agricultural Sciences Unit, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
⁵Agricultural Sciences Unit, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
* Corresponding Author : aspimenta@ufrnet.br

Received : 26-11-2017     Accepted : 16-02-2018     Published : 28-02-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 4       Pages : 5153 - 5157
Int J Agr Sci 10.4 (2018):5153-5157
DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.9735/0975-3710.10.4.5153-5157

Keywords : biochar, pyrolysis, carbon sequestration, response surface
Academic Editor : Aiyswaraya Thakur, Dr Someswar Rao Pandravada, Darshan Dharajiya, Dr Mudit Chandra, Dr Fakir Mohan Sahu, Akhilesh Singh, Dr Safiul Alam, Gupta R.K.
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : To Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), for the postdoctoral research grant given to the first author. Name of Principle Investigator or Major Advisor or Research Guide or Chairperson of research
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

This work aimed to analyze the effect of variation in biochar dosage and granulometry on water retention and soil density. Biochar doses (0, 5, 10 and 15 t ha-1) and mean particle sizes (0.25, 0.75, 1.5 and 3.0 mm) were tested in a completely randomized design with three replications. The water retention capacity of soil-biochar blends was determined following saturation, after drainage was carried out for a determined time. Soil density, in turn, was determined by the volumetric ring method. The statistical procedures adopted were variance analysis by the F test and the adjustment of response surface models, followed by the generation of contour graphs. The lowest values of soil density and the highest values of water retention capacity were obtained with biochar dosage between 3.5 and 7t ha-1 and mean granulometry between 1.4 and 1.65 mm.

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