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The effect of biochar and compost from urban organic waste on plant biomass and properties of an artificially copper polluted soil Cardenes-Aguiar, E, Gasco, G, Paz-Ferreiro, J and Mendez, A 2017, 'The effect of biochar and compost from urban organic waste on plant biomass and properties of an artificially copper polluted soil', International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, vol. 124, pp. 223-232. Document type: Journal Article Collection: Journal Articles Title The effect of biochar and compost from urban organic waste on plant biomass and properties of an artificially copper polluted soil Author(s) Cardenes-Aguiar, E Gasco, G Paz-Ferreiro, J Mendez, A Year 2017 Journal name International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Volume number 124 Start page 223 End page 232 Total pages 10 Publisher Elsevier Abstract Soil contamination with copper is a global issue, in particular in soils with a history of fertilizers, fungicides or municipal waste amendment. Several remediation techniques have been investigated to reduce the environmental impact of Cu-contaminated soil, including the use of organic amendments such as composts and biochars, which can bound part of the soluble fraction of the metal. The objective of this work is to study the effect of biochar and biochar plus compost addition on copper mobility, soil microbial biomass and growth of different plant species following remediation of a soil spiked with copper (1000 mg Cu kg -1 ). The contaminated soil was treated with 10 wt% of biochar or biochar plus compost. Different plant species (mustard, cress and ryegrass) were grown in the soil during 4 weeks. A significant reduction on the mobile form of Cu was observed in soils treated with biochar and biochar plus compost. The highest microbial biomass values were obtained in samples treated with biochar plus compost. After cress growth, the microbial biomass of soil treated with biochar plus compost was similar to that of non-polluted soil. The germination test showed increased root length in the amended soils compared to the contaminated soils. With respect to biomass growth of vegetable species in copper polluted soil, only ryegrass presented a satisfactory growth in the contaminated soil without the biochar treatment. For mustard and cress, biomass growth was only observed following biochar addition. Subject Environmental Management Environmental Engineering not elsewhere classified Keyword(s) Biochar Cu polluted soil Microbial biomass Plant growth DOI - identifier 10.1016/j.ibiod.2017.05.014 Copyright notice © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ISSN 0964-8305 Related Links Link Description https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2017.05.014 Link to Published Version   Versions Version Filter Type Thu, 31 Jan 2019, 13:43:29 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 8 times in Thomson Reuters Web of Science Article | Citations Cited 0 times in Scopus Article Altmetric details: Access Statistics: 39 Abstract Views  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Thu, 31 Jan 2019, 11:26:00 EST by Catalyst Administrator