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Updated: Jan 5, 2026

Physical, Chemical and Biological Characterization of Six Biochars Produced for the Remediation of Contaminated Sites
Published on: November 28, 2014
Biochar combined with montmorillonite amendments increase bioavailable organic nitrogen and reduce nitrogen loss
Longji Zhu1, Hongyu Yang1, Yue Zhao1
1College of Life Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
Abstract:
This study aimed to compare the effects of biochar, montmorillonite and their mixture on nitrogen availability and nitrogen loss during chicken manure composting. Four lab-scale composting experiments, the control (CK), 5% biochar addition (BC), 5% montmorillonite addition (M) and 2.5% biochar + 2.5% montmorillonite addition (BCM), were established. Results showed that the addition of BC, M and BCM significantly improved the contents of bioavailable organic nitrogen and NH4+-N in composts. In addition, BC and BCM reduced N loss by 19.2% and 12.2%, respectively, in comparison with CK. Significant shift of key bacterial communities associated with N transformation were also found in four treatments. Redundancy analysis and structural equation models indicated different additives changed the correlation among bacterial communities, environmental factors and organic N fractions. Comparison of N availability and N loss indicated that the combination of biochar and montmorillonite are more effective than that of separate application during composting.
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