Biochar modifies soil physical properties mostly through changes in soil structure rather than through its internal porosity

Abstract

Besides its carbon sequestration potential, biochar application generally improves soil physical properties, but the magnitude of its impact and the underlying mechanisms remain debated and depend on soil type, biochar application rate, and age. The objective was therefore to determine the effect of biochar application rate and age on physical properties of agricultural soils in a temperate climate. On a silt loam and a sandy loam soils, we compared the physical properties of fresh biochar (1% and 2% w/w) or century-old biochar (0.5%–1% w/w; 19th-century kiln sites)-enriched soil samples with biochar-free soil samples. Biochar pore network characteristics were determined using helium pycnometry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy observation, and electron dispersive X-ray spectrometry, whereas location of biochar particles within soil structure was analyzed using optical microscopy observations. Fresh biochar application decreased bulk density by 16.8% and increased saturated water content by 16.0% and macroporosity by 78.8%. These effects were attributed to soil structure improvement rather than to biochar porosity. Soil type and biochar application rate had a limited impact. In the long-term, biochar effects were mostly nonsignificant, which might result from its fairly low content in kiln sites and from the clogging of its internal porosity by clay particles. Biochar was thus able to improve some soil physical properties in the short-term, but these effects could no longer be detected in the very long-term. Further investigating the time rate of change in soil physical properties over several decades following biochar additions to soil would therefore seem particularly relevant.