[Effects of biochar on soil nutrients leaching and potential mechanisms: A review]

Controlling soil nutrient leaching in farmland ecosystems has been a hotspot in the research field of agricultural environment. Biochar has its unique physical and chemical properties, playing a significant role in enhancing soil carbon storage, improving soil quality and increasing crop yield. As a kind of new exogenous material, biochar has the potential in impacting soil nutrient cycling directly or indirectly, and has profound influences on soil nutrient leaching. This paper analyzed the intrinsic factors affecting how biochar affects soil nutrient leaching, such as the physical and chemical properties of biochar, and the interaction between biochar and soil organisms. Then the latest literatures regarding the external factors, including biochar application rates, soil types, depth of soil layer, fertilization conditions and temporal dynamics, through which biochar influences soil nutrient (especially nitrogen and phosphorus) leaching were reviewed. On that basis, four related action mechanisms were clarified, including direct adsorption of nutrients by biochar due to its micropore structure or surface charge, influencing nutrient leaching through increasing soil water- holding capacity, influencing nutrient cycling through the interaction with soil microbes, and preferential transport of absorbed nutrients by fine biochar particles. At last future research directions for better understanding the interactions between biochar and nutrient leaching in the soil were proposed.