Manure is a source of C and valuable plant nutrients. Its use reduces reliance on synthetic and mined fertilizers. After application, the labile manure C can be lost to the environment as CO2. However, due to its' relatively low carbon content relative to nitrogen content, it takes several applications before a significant C can build up. The porous biochar surfaces can stabilize C from other sources. We hypothesize that the surficial application of biochar to swine manure in the manure storage at a different rate (0%, 1%, 12.5%, and 25%) will influence the manure C stability. This ongoing experiment is proposing that biochar with manure could stabilize manure labile C and improve humification. Our experiments are: 1. Hot water extraction of C from different biochar-manure mixtures. 2. Conduct a short incubation study with the biochar-manure mixture in the presence of microbial inoculant and measure CO2 release. 3. Evaluate the different biochar-manure mixtures' total solid and volatile matter content. We hypothesize a negative relationship between biochar application rate and volatile matter loss and hot water extractable labile C, supporting the stabilization of manure C in the presence of biochar. Moreover, CO2 loss from manure-biochar than manure will be less into the atmosphere, as we expect to see from the incubation study. In addition, we anticipate that biochar in the manure will reform the valuable manure NH4+-N and reactive P fraction and slowly releases it to plants to support the growth.

Assessment of biochar as a potential C stabilizer from swine manure

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