The above is a video from re:char fellow Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy. He describes the video as follows:
This is an effort to discover the Terra Preta Signatures by observing several fields in parts of India in the last 5 months. I had the hypothesis that if terra preta soils happened in Amazon basin, there is no reason why other civilizations around the world have not discovered similar properties of charcoal and adopted. For photographs and notes please see http://e-terrapreta.blogspot.com/. Charcoal as a component for soil fertility improvement in agriculture production is a fact known to people from ancient civilizations. Improving the soil fertility by all means for food security was the major concern of farmers since several centuries. Farmers are more sensitive in this aspect, because farming is their livelihood.
A recent article in the scholalry journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry provides more evidence to the significant longevity of solid carbon in agricultural soils. Researchers Yakov Kuzyakov, Irina Subbotina, Haiqing Chen, Irina Bogomolova and Xingliang Xu at the University of Bayreuth produced biochar samples from perennial ryegrass. These samples were labeled with a radioactive carbon isotope and mixed into soil samples. Soil samples were allowed to incubate for 3.2 years, and were subjected to various treatments intended to stimulate the decomposition of biochar. Despite these treatments, which included addition of glucose and intensive mixing of soils, biochar was not found to contribute significantly to overall carbon flux, indicating minimal leaching and degradation of black carbon in agricultural soils. Based on their experiments, the researchers conclude that black carbon has a half-life of at least 1400 years, and a mean residence time of at least 2000 years in agricultural soils. Given the relatively short duration of their experiment, the researchers postulate that this residence time could be even longer.
For the biochar community, this news is potentially huge. One of the strongest criticisms of biochar has been the lack of multi-year soil studies. Given the relative novelty of the biochar concept, this long-standing review will only support biochar in the face of increasing challenges.
THE PROMISE OF BIOCHAR
Exhausted or bored or confused by the previous debate? Want a simpler straight-forward presentation? You are in luck. Here are two fine videos.
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