Earthworm avoidance of biochar can be mitigated by wetting

Biochar has a great potential for enhancing soil fertility and carbon sequestration while enabling beneficial waste disposition. Because of the potential for widespread application, it is essential to proactively assess and mitigate any unintended consequences associated with soil biochar amendment.

We conducted soil avoidance tests, growth and reproduction tests, and oxidative stress assays with the earthworm Eisenia foetida to assess the potential toxicity of soil amended with biochar produced from apple wood chips. Earthworms avoided soils containing 100 and 200 g/kg dry biochar at statistically significant levels (p < 0.05), and after 28-day incubation, these earthworms lost more weight than those in control (unamended) soil.

However, biochar did not affect the reproduction of earthworms. We investigated whether the observed avoidance was due to nutrition deficiency, desiccation, or the presence of toxic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formed during biochar production by pyrolysis. Nutrition deficiency was excluded by the lack of earthworm avoidance to soil amended with nutrient-deficient sand instead of biochar.

Although traces of PAH were detected in the tested biochar (e.g., 25.9 μg/kg fluorene, 3290 μg/kg naphthalene, and 102 μg/kg phenanthrene), the lack of lipid peroxidation and no increase in superoxide dismutase activity in biochar-exposed earthworms suggests that presence of toxic compounds was not a likely reason for avoidance.

Furthermore, wetting the biochar to its field capacity resulted in statistically undetectable avoidance relative to control soil, indicating that insufficient moisture could be a key factor affecting earthworm behavior in soil amended with dry biochar. To avoid desiccation of invertebrates and enable their beneficial ecosystem services, we recommend wetting biochar either before or immediately after soil application.