BIOCHAR FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT Sugarcane bagasse biochars impact respiration and greenhouse gas emissions from a latosol Wangang Deng 1,2 & Lukas Van Zwieten 3 & Zhaomu Lin 4 & Xingyuan Liu 5 & Ajit K Sarmah 6 & Hailong Wang 2,5,7 Received: 2 September 2015 /Accepted: 24 December 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract Purpose A paucity in knowledge remains on the influence of biochar production temperature and the rate of application on greenhouse gas emissions from soil. The objective of this column experiment was to evaluate a biochar thermosequence by doses on CO 2 ,N 2 O, and CH 4 emissions from a latosol following nitrogen fertilizer application following a pre- incubation period. Materials and methods Biochar was produced from sugar- cane bagasse pyrolyzed at 300, 500, and 700 °C (BC 300, BC 500, and BC 700, respectively). Biochars were added to air-dried latosol columns at rates of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 15 % (w/w), and the water content was brought to 95 % of water-filled pore space (WFPS). The emissions from columns were tested on days 1, 3, 7, 15, and 30 following a 30-day pre- incubation. Results and discussion All treatments showed a decrease in respiration across the study period. The higher doses of bio- char of BC 300 and BC 700 resulted in significantly higher respiration than controls on days 15 and 30. Neither biochar dose nor temperature had a significant effect on CH 4 emis- sions during the study period. Application of all biochars sup- pressed the emissions of N 2 O at all doses on days 1 and 3, compared to the control. N 2 O emissions from higher temper- ature biochar-amended soil at 2, 5, 10, and 15 % were greater than that from corresponding treatments of lower-temperature biochar-amended soil on days 15 and 30. Conclusions Soil respiration and overall greenhouse gas emission from latosol increased with biochar dose and pyrol- ysis temperature in the 30-day study period due to increasing water retention facilitated by biochar. Careful consideration is needed when applying bagasse biochar as it changes N cy- cling and soil physical properties. Keywords Carbon dioxide . Denitrification . Methane . Nitrous oxide . Slow pyrolysis 1 Introduction Agricultural activities account for around 13.5 % of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007) and 20 % of the annual Responsible editor: Yong Sik Ok Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11368-015-1347-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Hailong Wang nzhailongwang@gmail.com 1 Key Laboratory of Protection and Development Utilization of Tropical Crop Germplasm Resources (Hainan University) Ministry of Education, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China 2 College of Agriculture, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan 570228, China 3 New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 1243 Bruxner Highway, Wollongbar, NSW 2477, Australia 4 Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Danzhou 571737, China 5 Guangdong Dazhong Agriculture Science Co. Ltd., Hongmei Town, Dongguan, Guangdong 523169, China 6 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, The University of Auckland, The Faculty of Engineering, Auckland 1142, New Zealand 7 Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, China J Soils Sediments DOI 10.1007/s11368-015-1347-4