Impact of biochar application on plant water relations in Vitis vinifera (L.)
Introduction
In the Mediterranean area water scarcity is a major limiting factor for agriculture that currently accounts for the consumption of roughly 65% of available freshwater (Plan Bleu, 2011). According to the IPCC (2007), the vulnerability of Mediterranean systems to water scarcity is predicted to increase in the near future as a consequence of larger inter-annual rainfall variability and higher frequency and intensity of extreme events such as droughts and heat waves. In this context, the identification and implementation of adaptation measures aimed at enhancing the resilience of the agroecosystems to water scarcity is a key priority to maintain both the quality and quantity of crop productions and protect water resources.
Crop management strategies play an important role in the capability of soils to hold nutrients and water. The depletion of soil organic matter in agricultural soils over the last century due to the management intensification, the sustained removal of crop residues and the use of chemical fertilizers (Das et al., 2005, Lal, 2009, Lal, 2004, Sharma et al., 2005), has had dramatic effects on the water holding capacity of soils (Blanco-Canqui and Lal, 2009), and on the capacity of plants to adapt to a changing climate.
In recent years, the addition of biochar to agricultural soils has emerged as a feasible strategy to simultaneously enhance crop productivity and soil fertility (Major et al., 2010, Vaccari et al., 2011), decrease nutrient leaching (Laird et al., 2010), sequester organic carbon (Ventura et al., 2013, Woolf et al., 2010), reduce non-CO2 green house gases emissions (Castaldi et al., 2011, Stewart et al., 2013, Zheng et al., 2012) and to increase soil water-holding capacity (Basso et al., 2013, Case et al., 2012, Kammann et al., 2011).
Potential soil improvements depend on the physical and chemical structure of the biochar, and on the rate of application to the soil (Novak et al., 2009, Van Zwieten et al., 2010). The increase of soil water-holding capacity that follows biochar addition (Case et al., 2012, Kammann et al., 2011) is related to the porosity and high specific surface area (Verheijen et al., 2010), and the magnitude of this effect depends on feedstock type and pyrolysis conditions (Uzoma et al., 2011). Glaser et al. (2002) reported an increased in field capacity of 18% in Anthrosols rich in charcoal; a similar increase was reported in sandy soils by Lehmann et al. (2011).
Due to the mechanical stability and recalcitrance of biochar in soils (Verheijen et al., 2010), its application is expected to have a long term effect on water holding capacity and soil structure.
Water scarcity is recognized as one of the major environmental limitations for the expansion viticulture in new territories (Morison et al., 2008, Schultz and Stoll, 2010), and for quantitative and qualitative stability of grape production in current viticultural areas (García-García et al., 2008). About two-thirds of the viticultural areas of the world have an annual total precipitation below 700 mm, while a large part is located in regions where a seasonal drought often coincides with the grapevine growing season. The predicted increase in the occurrence of extreme weather events, in particular droughts and heat waves, is expected to have negative impacts on Mediterranean viticulture (Hannah et al., 2013, Moriondo et al., 2011). The area of viticulture subject to water deficit are expected to further increase in the near future (Flexas et al., 2010), and despite its drought tolerance grapevine could be affected by limitations to growth, abnormal ripening and reduced berry quality (Flexas et al., 2002). This will significantly affect viticulture, leading to changes in the geographical ranges of varieties (Schultz, 2000) and forcing winegrowers to increasingly rely upon irrigation (Chaves et al., 2007). While it has been demonstrated that biochar increases total soil water content and holding capacity, little is known regarding the water available to plants, although this is expected to be higher during dry periods (Atkinson et al., 2010). The additional volume of water (and soluble nutrients) stored in the biochar micropores is hypothesized to become available for plants as the soil dries and the matric potential decreases (Uzoma et al., 2011), but few data is available to confirm this behaviour.
The molecular structure of biochar is highly hydrophobic and could theoretically enhance the water repellency of soil surface with potential impacts upon soil erosion; nevertheless, few studies have been conducted on the hydrophobicity of the soil–biochar mixture (Kinney et al., 2012, Verheijen et al., 2010).
A field experiment was therefore conducted in a vineyard in central Italy to evaluate the impacts of two rates of biochar addition on soil–water relations, one and two years after application, and to verify any associated effects on plant water status and photosynthetic rates.
Section snippets
Experimental site
The field experiment was established in a vineyard at the “Marchesi Antinori – La Braccesca Estate” (Lat. 43°10′15″N; Long. 11°57′ 43″E; 290 m a.s.l.), located few kilometres away from Montepulciano (Tuscany, central-Italy). The vineyard was planted in 1995 (cv. Merlot, clone 181; rootstock 3309 Couderc), the trellis system is a single curtain with plant-row spacing of 0.8 m and 2.5 m; rows orientation is east–west. The vineyard is not irrigated.
Meteorological parameters were collected hourly by
Physical and chemical effects
The chemical and physical characteristics of the biochar used for the experiment are reported in Table 2, Table 3. The total porosity of the biochar is 2722 mm3 g−1 (Table 3); the pore distribution curve shows a bimodal pattern, with the maximum peak around 30 μm and the second peak around 3 μm (Fig. 2). Pore size classes were grouped according to Greenland's (1977) terminology, which defines transmission pores (≥50 μm), storage pores (0.5–50 μm) and residual pores (<0.5 μm). Storage pores are 75% of
Discussion
The addition of biochar to soil caused a substantial and significant change in soil physical characteristics. This was undoubtedly associated to the peculiar properties of biochar and in particular to its high SSA and low bulk density.
The analysis of pore size distribution suggests that these changes were related to pores function as increasing values of pore diameter corresponded to decreasing values of water tension (i.e. 1 mm = pF 3.5, 3 mm = pF 3; 10 mm = pF 2.5 and so on). Transmission pores, in
Conclusion
In this study we assessed the impact of biochar amendment on selected soil physical properties and ecophysiological parameters of Vitis vinifera. The results reported here offer new information regarding the impact of biochar on soil–plant water status in a perennial crop, demonstrating that biochar could effectively be used to improve soil water content, reduce plant water stress and increase photosynthetic activity without affecting soil hydrophobicity.
Our results do not support the existence
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the staff of “Marchesi Antinori - La Braccesca Estate” for their technical support and for hosting the experiment and in particular Giancarlo Certini, Samuele Collini and Adriano Giuliarini. Lorenzo Albanese, Filippo Di Gennaro, Sara Di Lonardo, Alessandro Matese, Jacopo Primicerio, Francesco Sabatini (IBIMET-CNR), Manuele Scatena (ISE-CNR) are acknowledged for their valuable technical assistance during the field experiments and during ecophysiological measurements. A
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