[Terrapreta] Article link

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Dave,

This was a good link to an interesting article.  Thanks.

I think it is worth noting that there is a difference between biochar amendments into soil and SOIL ORGANIC CARBON (SOC) or soil organic matter (SOM).  Biochar does not contain as much "food" for soil microorganisms as plant litter does.  Microorganisms obtain energy by breaking down the carbohydrates in plant matter.  It is "food" for them.  This digestion is what is happening when plant matter decays.  Both biochar and SOC/SOM are likely to contain similar amounts of plant nutrients, since they both come from plant material.  

Conversion of biomass into charcoal will break most of the carbohydrate bonds and harvest most the available energy.  Biochar will not have left in it the same large proportions of complex carbon bearing molecules as plant litter does.  So it won't provide the same amount of "food" energy to microorganisms.  What biochar does do, though, is build into the soil a way that it can bind up whatever available nutrients there are, so that they do not gas off, or run off as readily as in soils without the same carbon or SOC/SOM content.

SOC/SOM actually does this too.  But with continuous cropping and without continuous SOC/SOM inputs, then existing SOC/SOM will eventually decompose, leaving the soil unable to hold nutrients again.  SOC/SOM can decompose readily within a few years, especially if wet and/or the soil is disturbed.  Biochar will not decompose in anything less than 500-10,000 years!  The potential then for actually sequestering large amounts of carbon in the soil for a long period of time is much better with biochar.  Carbon sequestration in soil via SOC/SOM is more short term.

What appears to be going on with developed TP soils is that they contain BOTH biochar and larger amounts of SOC/SOM.  Biochar may in fact promote the increase of SOC/SOM in the soil.  There is a synergistic interaction of biochar, SOC/SOM, and soil microorganisms in Terra Preta soils.  I think that many of the initial experimenters here on this list have suggested this possibility.

Regards,

SKB

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: code suidae<mailto:codesuidae at gmail.com> 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 2:21 PM
  Subject: [Terrapreta] Article link


  I don't recall seeing this go by on the list, and thought it would be
  of interest:

  <http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20071129/cm_csm/yapfelbaum_1<http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20071129/cm_csm/yapfelbaum_1>>

  It doesn't mention TP, but makes some other suggestions that seem
  pretty sound to me.

  Dave K
  -- 
  "Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know." -
  M. King Hubbert

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