Global analysis on potential effects of biochar on crop yields and soil quality

Highlights

	● Biochar with a higher total phosphorus concentration (≥1.0%), total carbon concentration (≥70%), and specific surface area (≥50 m2 g‒1) were optimal for improving crop yields.
	● Greater yield increases were observed in the soil with acidic, sandy or clay soils than alkaline or loam soils.
	● The addition of biochar boosted crop yields in low-fertility soils.
	● Biochar application to soil improved the soil quality by increasing soil organic carbon, total N, and pH, while decreasing soil bulk density.

Abstract

Biochar has been widely used for soil improvement, but uncertain results persist due to diverse biochar characteristics, soil properties, and crop responses. Therefore, the effects of biochar on crop yields and soil quality were evaluated using effect size method from 1011 paired data points from field trials, based on a global meta-analysis method. The results indicated that biochar with a higher total phosphorus concentration (≥1.0%), total carbon concentration (≥70%), and specific surface area (≥50 m² g^‒1) were optimal for improving crop yields. For improving crop yields, biochar made from manure (effect size, 42%) outperformed that made from ligneous (22%) or cereal (12%) material. Porous, acidic, or young soil types were optimal for biochar application, while sandy and clay soils were preferred over loam soil. Soils with lower available nitrogen (<80 mg kg^‒1), phosphorus (<10 mg kg^‒1), potassium (<120 mg kg^‒1), pH (<4.5), and cation exchange capacity (<10 cmol kg^‒1) were more effective on crop yield increases. The effect of biochar on yield was higher for cash crops (oil plants: 37%, vegetables: 28%) compared to food crops (legumes: 26%, maize: 20%, wheat: 12%, rice: 6%), but with no significant effect observed on rice (P=0.788). Finally, biochar increases crop yields by improving soil quality through enhanced levels of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, and soil pH while reducing soil bulk density. Our research enhances understanding of the relationships between biochar, soil, and crops, aiding researchers, manufacturers, and farmers in making informed decisions regarding biochar selection, planting locations, and crop choices.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

biochar / crop yields / soil quality / soil type / soil organic carbon / meta-analysis

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Author contributions

Zhichao Xu: Conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing-original draft. Run Zhou: data curation. Guoren Xu: writing-reviewing and editing, resources, corresponding author. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the research reported in this study.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by The National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2019YFC1906502, and 2019YFC1906504). We thank all of the data providers for the meta-analysis.

Data availability

All of the parameters and variables used are reported in the Supplementary Information. The full code is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-024-0267-x and is accessible for authorized users.

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