Final Report: GRS153 - Biochar and the Nitrogen Cycle: Unravelling the interactions

Although biochar addition to soil did decrease inorganic N leaching, soil N mineralisation either decreased or did not change... The application of pyrolysed organic matter or biochar to soil can remediate decreased SOM and sequester C. The application of biochar to soil has also been shown to improve soil fertility and enhance yields of crops such as maize, wheat and peanuts... As biochar addition to soil can increase microbial community size and activity, previous research has hypothesised that this mechanism may be responsible for enhanced N mineralisation rates and contributes to the demonstrated improvements of N fertiliser use efficiency (up to 90%) in glasshouse-based agronomic research...