Response of soil respiration and carbon budget to irrigation quantity/quality and biochar addition in a mulched maize field under drip irrigation

BACKGROUNDBiochar addition strongly alters net carbon (C) balance in agroecosystems. However, the effects of biochar addition on net C balance of maize field under various irrigation water quantities and qualities remains unclear. Thus, a field experiment combining two irrigation levels of full (W1) and deficit irrigation (W2 = 1/2 W1), two water salinity levels of fresh (S0, 0.71 g L-1) and brackish water (S1, 4 g L-1), and two biochar addition rates of 0 t ha-1 (B0) and 60 t ha-1 (B1) was conducted to investigate soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, maize C sequestration and C budget.RESULTSCompared with W1, W2 reduced average cumulative CO2 emissions by 6.5% and 19.9% for 2020 and 2021, respectively. The average cumulative CO2 emissions under W1S1 treatments were 5.4% and 22.3% lower than W1S0 for 2020 and 2021, respectively, whereas W2S0 and W2S1 had similar cumulative CO2 emissions in both years. Biochar addition significantly increased cumulative CO2 emissions by 17.8-23.5% for all water and salt treatments in 2020, and reduced average cumulative CO2 emissions by 11.9% for W1 but enhanced it by 8.0% for W2 in 2021. Except for W2S1, biochar addition effectively increased total maize C sequestration by 6.9-14.8% for the other three treatments through ameliorating water and salt stress over the 2 years. Compared with W1S0, W1S1 did not affect net C sequestration, but W2 treatments significantly decreased it. Biochar addition increased net C sequestration by 39.47-43.65 t C ha-1 for four water and salt treatments for the 2 years.CONCLUSIONThese findings demonstrate that biochar addition is an effective strategy to increase both crop C sequestration and soil C storage under suitable water-saving irrigation methods in arid regions with limited freshwater resources. (c) 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.