ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the potential for biochar to support crop production. The primary function of agricultural soils is for food, feed, fibre and fuel production. Both agricultural crop production and crop quality are closely linked to soil quality. Soil organic matter plays a vitally important role in the biological, physical and chemical processes in every soil, and will be the basis for the comparison with biochar. The availability of nutrients for plants is dependent on a number of factors, including the capacity of the soil to exchange nutrients with the soil solution, soil acidity (pH) and mineralisation of soil organic carbon. An important soil property is the cation exchange capacity. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) of biochar can range greatly, and can be as high as 1700 in some cases. The effect of biochar on the hydraulic conductivity was examined in northern European countries.
