Effects of biochar-based fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen losses via leaching and ammonia volatilization from an open vegetable field

It is essential for the sustainable development of agriculture to enhance nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crop plants by increasing yield and reducing nitrogen (N) losses. Biochar-based fertilizer (BF) has received increasing attention because of its full play to the advantages of chemical compounds with sufficient N and less N loss risk with good adsorption characteristics, but this potential was seldom reported for open-field vegetable crops, NUE of which were significantly lower than cereal crops. A field trial was conducted to investigate the efficacy of BF on NUE in vegetable cropping system by comparison with chemical fertilizer (CF) and partial substitution of organic fertilizers to chemical fertilizers (COF). The yield, plant N uptake, residual soil mineral N, and N losses via leaching and ammonia volatilization from an open vegetable (water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica L.) field were analyzed. The results indicated that BF treatment had significantly higher yield, plant N uptake, and NUE (agronomic efficiency and recovery efficiency as the NUE indicators), compared with those of CF and COF treatments. N losses via leaching were respectively accounted for 53.30%, 37.74%, and 33.39%; and N losses via ammonia volatilization were respectively accounting to 1.13%, 0.78%, and 1.54% of N fertilizer applied (at a rate of 200 kg N/ha) in CF, COF, and BF treatments. Despite the increasing ammonia volatilization due to the alkalinity of biochar, BF treatment significantly enhance NUE by increasing N uptake by water spinach and minimizing N losses via leaching. This study suggested that BF could serve as a promising slow-release N fertilizer for sustainable N management in field vegetable production and provided critical information for the development and dissemination of BF management guidelines.