Soil Charcoal Amendments Maintain Soil Fertility and Establish a Carbon Sink

In: Soil Ecology Research Developments ISBN 978-1-60021-971-9 Editors: Tian-Xiao Liu, pp. © 2007 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Expert Commentary SOIL CHARCOALAMENDMENTS MAINTAIN SOIL FERTILITY AND ESTABLISH A CARBON SINK – RESEARCH AND PROSPECTS Christoph... More

In: Soil Ecology Research Developments ISBN 978-1-60021-971-9 Editors: Tian-Xiao Liu, pp. © 2007 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Expert Commentary SOIL CHARCOALAMENDMENTS MAINTAIN SOIL FERTILITY AND ESTABLISH A CARBON SINK – RESEARCH AND PROSPECTS Christoph Steiner1 Institute of Soil Science and Soil Geography, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany CHARCOAL AS SOIL AMENDMENT Sustaining soil fertility is a major agricultural constraint in the Amazon Basin (Tiessen, et al. , 1994), thus shifting cultivation accompanied with slash and burn agriculture is the prevailing agricultural practice in the humid tropics. In addition to the predominant and unproductive Ferralsols and Acrilols, an exceptional dark soil is well known by the indigenous people and colonists for its sustained soil fertility. According to its dark color and origin ,the soil was termed Terra Preta de Indio. Smith (1879) and Katzer (1903) were among the first who described the Terra Preta’s properties and pres Less