Biochar-based nitrogen fertilizers: Greenhouse gas emissions, use efficiency, and maize yield in tropical soils

The sustainable development of agriculture depends on increasing N use efficiency (NUE) and consequently reducing N losses from different sources, such as NH3 volatilization, NO3- leaching, and N2O emissions. While the chemical and physical properties of biochar (BC) in fertilizers have been evaluated to increase NUE, a lack of information exists regarding the effects of BC amendments in tropical soils. We performed a one-year field experiment with tropical soil to evaluate the effects of BC-based N fertilizers (BN) on maize yield and on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The treatments consisted of five fertilizers: ammonium nitrate (AN), urea (U), BN51/10 (51% BC, 10% N), BN40/17 (40% BC, 17% N), BN29/20 (29% BC, 20% N), and a control (without N fertilizer). The N fertilizers (80 kg N ha-1) were broadcast 20 days after sowing. Yield, grain N uptake, NUE, ammonia volatilization, and GHG emissions were measured. The results demonstrated the potential of BNs to enhance the efficiency of the fertilizers. BN51/10 and BN40/17 had an average maize yield that was 26% higher than that of U, and BN51/10 resulted in a NUE that was 12% higher than what was observed for U. Both the effects on yield and NUE were attributed to lower N release rates of the BN-amended fertilizers compared to that of the conventional soluble N sources. The BC-based fertilizers presented better environmental performance, and BN51/10 showed the lowest emission intensity when C sequestration by BC was not considered, with a value that was 14% lower than that of the U treatment. When considering C sequestration by BC, the emission intensity of the C equivalents demonstrated that all BNs presented C sequestration that differed from that of the mineral N sources. BC-based nitrogen fertilizers may have promising applications for sustainable agricultural development by mitigating N losses and increasing C stocks.