Laboratory of Plant Biotechnologies
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Laboratory of Plant Biotechnologies |
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| Preparation of soil/biochar mixture | Preparation of flower beds | Worker of science :-D | Prepared flower beds |
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| Garden bed with control soil | Garden with biochar from sewage sludge | Garden with biochar from chaffs and brans | Garden with biochar from wooden pallets |
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| Soil | Biochar from sewage sludge | Biochar from chaffs and brans | Biochar from wooden pallets |
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| Garden bed with control soil (left) and with soil and biochar from sewage sludge (right). Plant of maize, bean and pumpkins after 5 weeks from sowing. | Garden bed with soil and biochar from chaffs and brans (left) and with soil and biochar from wooden pallets (right). Plant of maize, bean and pumpkins after 5 weeks from sowing. | ||
| Root test in rhizoboxes (tomato plants) | |||
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| Control soil (1 plant left) | Biochar from rice husks (2 plants) | Biochar from biogas Lukavice (2 plants) | Biochar from beech tree (1 plant right) |
Biochar is the product of the decomposition of biomass due to sufficiently high temperatures with little or no air access. Its addition can improve soil properties in several ways. For example, due to its porosity, it increases the soil's ability to retain moisture and at the same time aerate. Along with water, it also retains the nutrients dissolved in it. It can also bind minerals chemically, forming c omplexes similar to those that form humus. Its vast internal surface provides a substrate for rich microbial colonisation of the soil. Finally, biochar itself contains all the nutrients that the original biomass contained. Its application can not only greatly improve soil properties, but also safely store vast amounts of carbon previously captured from the atmosphere by photosynthesis. This can become one of the measures to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.