%0 Journal Article
%T Co-pyrolysis of chicken manure with tree bark for reduced biochar toxicity and enhanced plant growth in Arabidopsis thaliana.
%A Lataf A
%A Pecqueur I
%A Huybrechts M
%A Carleer R
%A Rineau F
%A Yperman J
%A Cuypers A
%A Vandamme D
%J Sci Rep
%V 14
%N 1
%D 2024 06 17
%M 38886397
%F 4.996
%R 10.1038/s41598-024-62468-3
%X Co-pyrolysis of chicken manure with tree bark was investigated to mitigate salinity and potentially toxic element (PTE) concentrations of chicken manure-derived biochar. The effect of tree bark addition (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 wt%) on the biochar composition, surface functional groups, PTEs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentration in the biochar was evaluated. Biochar-induced toxicity was assessed using an in-house plant growth assay with Arabidopsis thaliana. This study shows that PTE concentrations can be controlled through co-pyrolysis. More than 50 wt% of tree bark must be added to chicken manure to reduce the concentrations below the European Biochar Certificate-AGRO (EBC-AGRO) threshold. However, the amount of PAH does not show a trend with tree bark addition. Furthermore, co-pyrolysis biochar promotes plant growth at different application concentrations, whereas pure application of 100 wt% tree bark or chicken manure biochar results in decreased growth compared to the reference. In addition, increased plant stress was observed for 100 wt% chicken manure biochar. These data indicate that co-pyrolysis of chicken manure and tree bark produces EBC-AGRO-compliant biochar with the potential to stimulate plant growth. Further studies need to assess the effect of these biochars in long-term growth experiments.