Effect of the Application of Carbonized Biomass from Crop Residues on Soil Organic Carbon Retention

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of carbonized biomass from crop residues on soil carbon storage during soybean cultivation. The carbonized biomass was made by field scale mobile pyrolyzer. The treatments consisted of control without input and three levels of carbonized biomass inputs as $59.5kg10a^{-1}$, C-1 ; $119kg10a^{-1}$, C-2 ; $238kg10a^{-1}$, C-3. Soil samples were collected during the 113 days of experimental periods, and analyzed soil pH and moisture contents. Soil carbon contents and soybean yield were measured at harvesting period. For the experimental results, soil pH ranged from 6.8 to 7.5, and then increased with increasing carbonized material input. Soil moisture contents were slightly higher by 0.1~1.5% than the control, but consistent pattern was not observed among the treatments. Soil carbon and organic carbon contents in the treatments increased at 24 and 15% relative to the control at 15 days after sowing, respectively. Loss rate of SOC (soil organic carbon) relative to its initial content was 7.2% in control followed by C-1, 6.8%> C-2, 3.5%>C-3, 1.1% during the experimental periods. The SOC change rate decreased with increasing carbonized biomass rate. It was appeared that soybean yields were $476.9kg10a^{-1}$ in the control, and ranged from 453.6 to $527.3kg10a^{-1}$ in the treatments. However, significant difference was not found among the treatments. It might be considered that the experimental results will be applied to soil carbon sequestration for future study.