Small doses of wood biochar help vegetables take up more minerals
Yuan M, Wang J, Wu G, Wu P, Wang C
Soil Health
If you mix charcoal-like biochar into your vegetable beds, a light dose of alkaline wood biochar is more likely to help your plants than a heavy one, and it can shift which minerals end up in your produce.
Researchers combined results from many biochar studies and found it makes crops bigger, so plants collect more minerals overall. The mineral mix changes, though: iron, copper and zinc levels in plant tissue go up, while magnesium, manganese and sulfur levels go down. The best results came from wood-based biochar made at 400 to 500 °C, applied at 1% or less of soil weight, with vegetables gaining the most.
Key Findings
Biochar significantly increased crop aboveground biomass and total secondary-/micro-nutrient accumulation without significantly changing overall nutrient concentrations.
Effects were element-specific: Fe, Cu and Zn concentrations rose, Mg, Mn and S concentrations fell, and Ca showed no significant change.
Optimal conditions were 400-500 °C pyrolysis, wood-based feedstock, application rates of 1% (w/w) or less, and alkaline pH; vegetables showed the strongest response across soils and crops.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A review of many studies finds that adding biochar to soil boosts crop growth and the total amount of calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, manganese, copper and zinc plants take in. Small doses of alkaline, wood-based biochar made at moderate temperatures work best, and vegetables benefit most.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Biochar-mediated uptake of secondary- and micro-nutrients in crops: a meta-analysis.
Secondary- and micro-nutrients are essential for the growth, high yield, and high-quality production of crops, and their deficiency in arable soils has become a global constraint in agriculture. As...
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