Effect of biochar on carbon fractions and enzyme activity of red soil

To evaluate the changes in the pool of organic carbon fractions, aggregate stability and activity of enzymes, degraded red soil was amended with three different rates (0.5, 1.0 and 2%) of oak wood biochar (W0.5, W1.0, W2.0) and bamboo biochar (B0.5, B1.0, B2.0), with control as 0%. After 372 days, the incubated soils were analyzed for total organic C (TOC), potassium permanganate oxidizable C (POXC), light fraction organic C (LFOC), water soluble organic C (WSC), hot-water extractable C (HWC) and microbial biomass C (MBC), macroaggregates (> 0.25 mm), dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase and urease. The highest macroaggregates, POXC, LFOC, HWC, MBC and enzyme activities were measured in the lowest rates (W0.5 and B0.5). MBC positively correlated with all labile organic C and macroaggregates, indicating that microbial activities result in mineralization of organic matter (OM) and contribute on bonding agent for macroaggregation. The C/N of the experimental soil negatively correlated with most of labile organic carbons and macroaggregates, which could be the effect of limited N availability on labile organic carbon fraction and aggregation. As compared to the control, lability index (LI) (changes in the lability of soil carbon) increased in W0.5 and B0.5 by 4 and 6%, respectively, whereas the carbon management index (CMI) (changes of the total carbon in the soil and its lability) increased by ranges of 50 to 286% in the treatments, and implies sequestration of organic C in soil. The high CMI is largely caused by high C sequestration and low lability differences between the treatments. Our results suggest that biochar application increases total organic carbon, stimulates microbial activities, in turn increases macroaggregation, and thus soil quality.