Effect of biochar on greenhouse gas emissions and the growth of paddy rice :Master's thesis - Major : Sciences and management of the environment

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The project was completed at The Industrial University of Hochiminh City

Supervisor’s name: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Binh

The thesis was taken at The Industrial University of Hochiminh City date 23 month

06 year 2018.

Committee members (name):

1. ......................................................................... - Committee Chair

2. ......................................................................... - Commissioner

3. ......................................................................... - Secretary

COMMITTEE CHAIR DEAN OF INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to send my sincere thanks to the professors of University of Liege and

IESEM, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, who have imparted knowledge

to me in recent years. It is very important for me to be able to successfully complete

my dissertation.

I am highly indebted to my supervisors Dr. Nguyen Thanh Binh for his persistent

effort in guiding, supervising and encouraging me throughout the course of study.

I would like to thank Prof. HAUGLUSTAINE Jean-Marie, Dr. Dinh Dai Gai, Dr.

Luong Van Viet, Dr. Le Hoang Anh for their advice and encouragement.

I would like to thank Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City for securing funds

for this study.

Finally, thanks a lot!

AUTHOR

LE THI MINH CHAU

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ABSTRACT

Agricultural practices affect the growth of rice and emission of methane (CH4) from

the paddy field. The increased CH4 concentration in the atmosphere could be

contributed from the flooded regime. The release of CH4 from soil is the largest

source of carbon to the atmosphere.

In order to examine the effect of biochar on rice growth and CH4 emission from

paddy soil, an experiment was conducted with 6 treatments and 4 replicates. Six

treatments include (1) no manure – no biochar, (2) no manure – rice husk biochar,

(3) no manure – rice straw biochar, (4) cow manure – no biochar, (5) cow manure –

rice husk biochar, (6) cow manure – rice straw biochar. The experiment was

conducted over three months at the Institute of Biotechnology and Food

Technology, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. Gas samples were collected

and analysed with CH4 weekly. The biomass of rice crop and soil properties were

determined at the end of the experiment.

The results showed that:

− Application of cow manure increased CH4 emission from the paddy rice. Biochar

reduced CH4 emissions from the treatments applied with cow manure.

Specifically, CH4 emissions decreased by 58% with the addition of rice straw

biochar, decreased by 17% with the addition of rice husk biochar.

− Addition of biochar alone (no cow manure) on saline soil increased aboveground

biomass of paddy rice and the influence level depending on the type of biochar.

In the current study, aboveground biomass increased to 346% with straw biochar,

and to 174% with husk biochar.

The addition of biochar and cow manure into saline soils also affected the nutrient

content of the soil.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... 4

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... 5

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... 6

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 7

1. The reason for choosing the topic ....................................................................... 7

2. Objectives of the study ....................................................................................... 9

3. Subjects and scope of the study .......................................................................... 9

4. The methodology .............................................................................................. 10

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 11

1.1. Paddy rice production in Vietnam ................................................................. 11

1.2. Soils for paddy rice production ...................................................................... 13

1.3. Greenhouse gas emission from paddy fields ................................................. 15

1.4. Biochar with crop production ........................................................................ 17

1.5. Biochar with paddy rice production .............................................................. 17

1.6. Current problems of paddy rice production in Vietnam and biochar solutions

.............................................................................................................................. 18

CHAPTER 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................ 19

2.1. Research Content ........................................................................................... 19

2.2. Materials and methods ................................................................................... 19

2.2.1. Experimental procedure ......................................................................... 19

2.2.2. Experimental layout ............................................................................... 22

2.2.3. Measurements and analyses ................................................................... 25

2.2.4. Statistical analysis: ................................................................................. 27

CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................... 30

3.1. Basic characteristics of experimental materials ............................................. 30

3.2. Variations in CH4 effluxes during experiment .............................................. 31

3.3. Rice growth .................................................................................................... 40

3.4. Soil properties of six treatments after experiments ....................................... 41

3.4.1. Exchangeable concentrations of PO4

3-, NH4

+

, NO3

-

, and Cl-

................. 41

3.4.2. Soil pH and EC ....................................................................................... 43

4.4.3. Soil exchangeable concentrations of Ca, K, and Mg ............................. 44

3.4.4. Soil CEC, Na, and non-Na, exchangeable Na ........................................ 45

CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 48

4.1. For CH4 emissions: ........................................................................................ 48

4.2. For the growth of paddy rice ......................................................................... 48

4.3. For soil nutrients ............................................................................................ 48

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 50