101289 Monitoring Soil Processes after Biochar and Compost Amendment of a Technosol.
Poster Number 184-410
See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Urban and Anthropogenic Soils
See more from this Session: Urban and Anthropogenic Soils Poster (includes student competition)
Abstract:
Within the frame of a postgraduate teaching course on soil monitoring, we set up a field experiment in a small garden established on a plot that was filled up with construction debris. Half of the garden was shaded by a large tree, while the other half was mostly exposed to the sun. We applied three treatments in three-fold replication to 1 m2 plots, namely compost or biochar in doses of 4 kg m-2 mixed in 0-10 cm depth, and a control plot without amendments. We established 9 plots in the section under shade, and 9 plots in the section exposed to the sun. During 3 months we monitored the soil temperature, water content, water tension and volumetric water content and CO2 emissions. We also measured the height of 2 kitchen herbs (Chenopodium ambrosoides and Rosmarinus officinalis), four plants of each herb per plot, just after planting and 8 weeks later and calculated their growth increment in this period.
In the shade, compost and biochar additions improved the water content at small tensions when compared to the control. But in the sun plots no effect of the amendments was detectable. Compost emitted the largest quantities of CO2. Also Chenopodium ambrosoides had larger growth increments in the compost treatment, while Rosmarinus officinalis had a better survival.
See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Urban and Anthropogenic Soils
See more from this Session: Urban and Anthropogenic Soils Poster (includes student competition)