Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154

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Science of the Total Environment

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Impact of compost, vermicompost and biochar on soil fertility, maize

yield and soil erosion in Northern Vietnam: A three year
mesocosm experiment
Thuy Thu Doan a,b, Thierry Henry-des-Tureaux b,c, Cornelia Rumpel d, Jean-Louis Janeau a,b, Pascal Jouquet a,e,⁎
a
IRD, UMR 242 iEES Paris, équipe BioPhys, 32 Avenue H. Varagnat, 93143 Bondy Cedex, France
b
Soil and Fertilizer Research Institute, Dong Ngac, Tu Liem, Hanoi, Viet Nam
c
NAFRI, National University of Vientiane, BP 811, Vientiane, Laos
d
UMR iEES Paris, équipe EcoIso, Campus AgroParisTech, Bâtiment EGER, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
e
IFCWS, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, 560012 Bangalore, India

H I G H L I G H T S

• Influence of vermicompost and biochar on plant growth is variable but positive.

• Vermicompost allows a better resistance of maize to water shortage.
• Vermicompost and biochar reduce soil erosion and N loss.
• Combination of vermicompost and biochar improves agroecosystem sustainability.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Compost, vermicompost and biochar amendments are thought to improve soil quality and plant yield. However,
Received 19 June 2014 little is known about their long-term impact on crop yield and the environment in tropical agro-ecosystems. In
Received in revised form 30 December 2014 this study we investigated the effect of organic amendments (buffalo manure, compost and vermicompost)
Accepted 2 February 2015
and biochar (applied alone or with vermicompost) on plant yield, soil fertility, soil erosion and water dynamics
Available online 5 February 2015
in a degraded Acrisol in Vietnam. Maize growth and yield, as well as weed growth, were examined for three years
Editor: Eddy Y. Zeng in terrestrial mesocosms under natural rainfall.
Maize yield and growth showed high inter-annual variability depending on the organic amendment.
Keywords: Vermicompost improved maize growth and yield but its effect was rather small and was only significant when
Mesocosms water availability was limited (year 2). This suggests that vermicompost could be a promising substrate for im-
Water quality proving the resistance of agrosystems to water stress. When the vermicompost–biochar mixture was applied,
Tropical soil further growth and yield improvements were recorded in some cases. When applied alone, biochar had a positive
Ecological engineering influence on maize yield and growth, thus confirming its interest for improving long-term soil productivity. All
−
organic amendments reduced water runoff, soil detachment and NH+ 4 and NO3 transfer to water. These effects
were more significant with vermicompost than with buffalo manure and compost, highlighting that the benefi-
cial influence of vermicompost is not limited to its influence on plant yield. In addition, this study showed for the
first time that the combination of vermicompost and biochar may not only improve plant productivity but also
reduce the negative impact of agriculture on water quality.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction practices are also priorities. Unsustainable agricultural practices, such

Improved crop yield is obviously one objective of sustainable agri-
culture but other effects, such as the off-site impacts of cultivation
⁎ Corresponding author at: IRD, UMR 242 iEES Paris, équipe BioPhys, 32 Avenue H.
Varagnat, 93143 Bondy Cedex, France.
E-mail address: pascal.jouquet@ird.fr (P. Jouquet).
as the indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals, excessive and deep tillage,
reduction of the fallow period and the use of marginal land, such as
slopes, have increased plant yield at the expense of soil quality. Under
these circumstances, agricultural practices lead to reduced soil organic
matter (SOM) content and soil biodiversity, and degradation of soil
physical properties and the wider environment (e.g., increased soil ero-
sion, transfer of sediments and pollution of surface and ground-waters)
(Kibblewhite et al., 2008; Lal, 2008; Papathanasiou et al., 2012).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.02.005
0048-9697/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
148 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154
SOM depletion is one of the major factors causing degradation of
ecosystem services and loss of ecosystem resilience (Bronick and Lal,
2005; Lal, 2005; Feller et al., 2012). Thus numerous studies have
suggested that organic soil amendment is an alternative for sustaining
economically viable crop production with minimal environmental pol-
lution. Indeed, organic fertilization has been shown to improve SOM
content, microbial biomass and activity, to suppress plant diseases, es-
pecially those caused by soil-borne pathogens, and to improve soil resis-
tance against erosion (Thiele-Bruhn et al., 2012). However, a major
limitation of organic amendment is its smaller impact on plant yield
than chemical fertilizers, although this difference is highly contextual
and depends on the system and site characteristics (Seufert et al.,
2012). In a literature review, Seufert et al. (2012) found that most stud-
ies on organic amendments were carried out in developed countries
where performance is on average 20% less than with conventional agri-
culture, and this difference reaches 43% in developing countries. There-
fore, more research is needed, especially in developing countries, to
improve our knowledge of the potential of organic amendments, as
well as to improve their effectiveness.
Two alternative and emerging organic fertilizers are vermicompost
and biochar. Vermicomposting is a biological and ecological process. In-
teractions between earthworms and microorganisms lead to the bio-
oxidation and stabilization of the organic wastes (Dominguez and
Edwards, 2004; Dominguez and Gomez-Brandon, 2013). Vermicompost
was reported to stimulate soil microbial growth and activity and the
subsequent mineralization of soil plant nutrients. It increases soil
fertility and quality and contains plant growth promoting substances
(e.g., vitamins, hormones, enzymes) that favor plant growth
(Gutierrez-Miceli et al., 2007; Pramanik et al., 2007; Zaller, 2007;
Ievinsh, 2011; Papathanasiou et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2012). The incor-
poration of biochar in soil improved the retention of nutrients, such as
nitrogen (N), and sequestered carbon (C) (Lehmann et al., 2003;
Barrow, 2012; Cheng et al., 2012; Borchard et al., 2012; Clough and
Condron, 2010; Clough et al., 2013; Farrell et al., 2014). Its beneficial ef-
fect on plant growth has also been shown in numerous studies (Steiner
et al., 2007, 2008; Vaccari et al., 2011), and especially in poor tropical
soils (Andrew et al., 2013).
Recently, there has been increasing interest in using vermicompost
in Northern Vietnam to restore fertility and plant growth in soils de-
graded by erosion (Jouquet et al., 2011; Ngo et al., 2011, 2014; Doan
et al., 2013a,b), as well as to reduce the negative impact of OM amend-
ment on the transfer of mineral N and microbes to water (Jouquet et al.,
2011; Amossé et al., 2013; Doan et al., 2014). Recent studies also
showed that biochar could be used with vermicompost to increase its
stability and reduce OM solubility (Ngo et al., 2013, 2014; Doan et al.,
2014). However, how biochar and vermicompost interact and influence
plant development and soil and nutrient losses remains unknown. The
aim of this study carried out in Northern Vietnam was therefore to de-
termine if the positive influence of vermicompost on soil fertility,
plant growth and nutrient retention could be improved by the addition
of biochar. We hypothesized that: (1) vermicompost increases plant
growth and yield in soil and reduces the amount of soil and nutrients
lost by runoff and leaching compared with buffalo manure and compost,
and (2) these positive effects on soil fertility, plant growth and nutrient
retention are enhanced in the presence of biochar.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental design
The experiment was carried out at the Soil and Fertilizer Research In-
stitute (SFRI), in Hanoi, Vietnam. The experimental design consisted of
outdoor terrestrial mesocosms where maize was cultivated for three
years. The mesocosms consisted of tanks (1 m × 1 m × 2 m) filled
with 1 m3 of soil. These tanks were equipped with runoff water collec-
tors. A lysimeter was placed at the bottom of the tank to recover
leachate. Mesocosms were filled with soil sampled from a depth of 0–
30 cm at the MSEC experimental catchment (Podwojewski et al.,
2008; Valentin et al., 2008) and packed until a density similar to that
measured in the field was reached (~ 1 g cm−3, Jouquet et al., 2009).
The soil was first sieved (2 cm sieve) to remove stones and litter resi-
dues. This soil is classified as an Acrisol (World Reference Base for Soil
Resources, 1998) with low organic C (0.31%) and N content (0.16%).
The soil pH was acidic (pHH2O = 5.3). It was mainly sandy (43% sand,
34.3% silt, and 22.3% clay). Four maize seedlings (variety NK 4300)
were grown per mesocosm every year. The maize was cultivated with-
out irrigation but with mineral fertilizer to assist plant growth: urea
(CH4N2O, %N = 46.3%, 40 g m−2), potash (K2O, %K = 60%, 16 g m−2)
and phosphate (P2O5, %P = 16%, 50 g m−2). Exactly the same amount
of chemical fertilizer was applied to each mesocosm. Plants were then
treated with four different fertilization regimes in a randomized design:
only chemical nutrients (control: mineral, ‘M’) or the same amount of
chemical nutrients plus one of the three types of organic fertilizer. Or-
ganic fertilizers were amended at a rate of 20 t ha−1 (air-dry weight),
as recommended by SFRI: 2 kg of buffalo manure (BM), compost
(C) or vermicompost (V) mixed with the first 10 cm of soil (n = 5 for
all treatments). The influence of the incorporation of biochar (700 g,
or 7 t ha−1) was also tested for the mineral (i.e., only chemical nutrients
with ‘M+’ or without ‘M−’ biochar) and vermicompost (with ‘V+’ vs.
without ‘V−’ biochar) treatments.
Compost and vermicompost were produced from domestic buffalo
manure after three months of maturation, as reported by Jouquet et al.
(2010). The earthworm species used to produce the vermicompost
was Eisenia andrei. Organic amendments were air-dried for one week
before use so that exactly the same quantity of OM was applied per
mesocosm. Biochar was provided by GRET (Hanoi) and produced by
carbonizing pieces of bamboo for 8–10 h at 600 °C in airless brick
kilns. Chemical and organic amendments were applied each year
(i.e. three times during the whole experiment), while biochar was
added only once at the beginning of the experiment and mixed with
the chemical fertilizers or organic amendments. The buffalo manure
was more alkaline and contained more C and N than compost and
vermicompost (pHH2O = 10.5 (SE: 0.10), 7.2 (SE: 0.10) and 8.6 (SE:
0.06), C = 30.96% (SE: 1.01), 16.34% (SE: 0.10), 15.52% (SE: 0.11), and
N = 1.72% (SE: 0.03), 1.56% (SE: 0.09), 1.72% (SE: 0.03), respectively
for buffalo manure, compost and vermicompost). Biochar was neutral
(pHH2O = 7.0, SE: 0.1) and characterized by high C and low N contents
(C = 74.21 %, SE: 1.92, and N = 0.87%, SE: 002). More information
about the experimental set-up and the chemical properties of the soil,
buffalo manure, compost, vermicompost and biochar can be found in
Doan et al. (2014) and Ngo et al. (2014).
2.2. Soil and water chemical properties
Soil detachment and the volume and chemical quality of runoff
water and leachate were assessed after each rainfall event (i.e., 11
times during the experiment). Monthly rainfall amounts are shown in
Fig. 1. The volume of each water sample was measured and then filtered
through GF/F membrane filters (Whatman, 0.7 μm porosity) to measure
the concentration of suspended solids and nutrients. Following filtration
of runoff water and oven-drying of the sediment at 50 °C, sediment loss
was measured as the sediment weight. This sediment weight is as-
sumed to represent the quantity of soil lost during rainfall events on
1 m2 plots. The pH of each water sample was measured. Total N and
phosphorus (P) were evaluated in the filtrate solution according to
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater
(Clesceri et al., 1998). The concentrations of nutrients, NNH4+, NNO3−, K,
and P, were measured in the solutions.
The percentage of organic C was determined using the Walkley–
Black method (TCVN 4050-85) for soil samples and dry combustion
with a Carlo Erba NC2100 analyzer for water samples. Total N was de-
termined using the Kjeldahl method (ISO 11251-95) for soil samples
 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154 149

Plantation

Plantation

Plantation
Harvesting

Harvesting
Harvesting
2.4. Statistical analyses

450 Statistical analyses were performed using R software (R

400 development Core Team, 2008). The experimental design of this study
Rainfall amount (mm)

350
was completely randomized. A one way ANOVA was used to test the ef-
300 2009 2010 2011
fect of fertilization treatment (soil at T0 and treatments ‘M’, ‘BM’, ‘C’ or
250
200
‘V’) on soil chemical properties. A two-way ANOVA was performed to
150 test the effect of fertilization (chemical or vermicompost) and biochar
100 (with or without) treatments. The influence of the treatments on
50 plant growth and yield, weed biomass, water runoff and infiltration,
0 soil moisture, and soil loss and the quantity of NNH4+ and NNO3− were
measured through repeated ANOVA with time (year one to three) as a
within factor. LSD test was performed to assess differences between
means. The number of replicates was n = 5, except in the case of the ini-
Fig. 1. Monthly rainfall amount (mm) during the experiment. The planting (downward tial soil where n = 3.
arrow) and harvesting dates (upward arrow) are indicated.
3. Results

3.1. Soil chemical properties

and after reduction of nitrate with Devarda's alloy for water samples
(ISO 5553-84). The pH was measured in a soil/water suspension (ISO The addition of chemical (control) and organic amendments influ-
10390-2005). The NNH4+ and NNO3− contents were determined using enced soil chemical properties compared with the initial soil properties
the Kjeldahl method. The quantities of NNH4+ and NNO3− lost in the runoff (soil at T0) (P b 0.05). Table 1 shows that while organic amendments
water and leachate were measured in taking account the volume of each increased soil pH, the control treatment reduced it (P b 0.05). All the
sampled solution. The total K content was determined after extraction treatments also significantly increased the soil C content (P b 0.05).
with H2SO4 and HClO4 using a Flame photometer (TCVN 4053-81). However, the effect was more significant with compost and
The total P content was determined using a spectrophotometer after ex- vermicompost, with no significant difference between these two treat-
traction with H2SO4 and HClO4. Soil moisture was continuously mea- ments (P N 0.05). The least significant effect was observed in the control.
sured (every 2 h), as the soil water potential (kPa) with tensiometers Buffalo manure had an intermediate effect on C, with significantly lower
placed between 20 and 30 cm deep in the soil. In this study, only the av- values than those of compost and vermicompost treated soil but signif-
erage soil moisture over 10 day periods during cultivation was consid- icantly higher values than for the control treatment (P b 0.05 in all
ered for analysis. cases). The total soil N content also increased significantly, with higher
values following the organic treatments and lower values for the control
(P b 0.05). The total P and K content was significantly higher at the end
2.3. Maize growth and yield, and weed development of the experiment than in the soil at T0 (P b 0.05) but the treatments did
not have a significant effect (P N 0.05). Available P and K were also
Maize above-ground biomass was harvested at the end of each cul- significantly higher at the end of the experiment compared with the
tivation cycle and weighed after drying at 50 °C for 10 days. The maize control soil before the experiment (T0) (P b 0.05). However, available
yield was estimated as the total dry weight of grains per plant P was the highest in the compost and vermicompost treatments,
(g plant−1). The above-ground biomass of weeds was cut, dried at and then in the buffalo manure and lowest in the control (P b 0.05
50 °C for 10 days and weighed after the second and third maize cultiva- in all cases). The CEC also increased significantly in the order:
tion and before starting the next cultivation cycle. Weed biomass was Vermicompost N compost = manure N control N T0.
not measured after the first maize cultivation because its growth was ir- The application of biochar in combination with vermicompost did
regular and not significant overall. not have a significant effect on soil C, total P and K content or available

Table 1
Soil chemical properties sampled before and at the end of the experiment (pHH2O, C, N, P and K in %), P and K availability (mg 100 g−1) and CEC (meq 100 g−1). Different upper-case letters
indicate significant differences between fertilizer treatments (one way ANOVA for soil at T0, control, buffalo manure, compost and vermicompost treatments, LSD test, P b 0.05). Different
lower-case letters indicate differences between fertilizers (control vs. vermicompost) × biochar (with vs. without) treatments (two way ANOVA, LSD test, P b 0.05). Standard errors are in
parenthesis, n = 5. n.d. = not determined.

Fertilization Biochar pHH2O C (%) N (%) P2O5 (%) K2O (%)

Soil T0 5.3B (0.1) 0.31D (0.07) 0.15C (0.01) 0.09B (0.02) 0.10B (0.00)
Control − 4.8Cc (0.1) 1.15Cb (0.15) 0.20Bc (0.01) 0.32Aa (0.05) 0.26Aa (0.05)
+ 5.5b (0.1) 1.29b (0.22) 0.21c (0.01) 0.32a (0.04) 0.26a (0.05)
Manure 6.4A (0.1) 2.61B (0.17) 0.31A (0.02) 0.29A (0.05) 0.30A (0.05)
Compost 6.4A (0.2) 3.17A (0.22) 0.30A (0.04) 0.30A (0.02) 0.31A (0.05)
Vermicompost − 6.5Aa (0.2) 3.02Aa (0.28) 0.29Ab (0.04) 0.32Aa (0.04) 0.32Aa (0.08)
+ 6.5a (0.2) 3.10a (0.25) 0.35a (0.03) 0.35a (0.03) 0.26a (0.08)

Fertilization Biochar Pavailable (mg 100 g−1) Kavailable (mg 100 g−1) CEC (meq 100 g−1)

Soil T0 0.38D (0.02) 7.68C (1.4) 8.31D (1.1)

Control − 11.49Cc (1.04) 24.97ABb (4.5) 12.68Cc (1.5)
+ 16.30b (1.99) 21.65b (3.7) 15.90b (1.1)
Manure 18.11B (1.95) 28.57A (5.2) 16.61B (2.3)
Compost 19.94A (1.54) 22.98B (3.1) 16.64B (1.3)
Vermicompost − 20.20Aa (1.21) 25.19ABab (3.4) 20.40Aa (2.5)
+ 22.07a (2.31) 30.33a (3.5) 23.17a (3.0)
150 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154

1st year 2nd year 3th year

K contents but it significantly increased the total N and available P con- 0.4

tents (Table 1) (P b 0.05). It also significantly increased the CEC and pH a

A A Ab
of the control treatment (P b 0.05). B B Bc bc

Maize biomass (kg m-2)

c
0.3 Cd

3.2. Soil moisture e e

De
0.2 E
EF FGf
Changes in soil moisture throughout the experiment are shown in Gf f

Fig. 2. As expected, the annual variability in soil moisture was high.

0.1
Soil water tension was higher in the second year of the experiment
(i.e., lower water availability) than in the first and third years. Despite
large variability, our results also showed that the treatments had a sig- 0
nificant influence on soil moisture (F3, 1294 = 3.427, P = 0.017). The M BM C V M BM C V M BM C V

vermicompost treatment significantly reduced soil water tension

(i.e., increase water availability) more than the other treatments
(Fig. 2a). Higher soil water tension was measured on several dates for
the compost and control treatments and intermediate values were
noted for the manure treatments. Biochar incorporation had variable ef-
fects on soil moisture (F1, 1296 = 31.22, P b 0.001). It significantly de-
Fig. 3. Maize biomass (kg m−2) for soil amended with mineral fertilizers only (control, M),
or with organic fertilizers (buffalo manure: BM, compost: C, or vermicompost: V) in the
presence (in gray) or absence (in white) of biochar. Upper-case letters indicate significant
differences between fertilizer treatments (M, BM, C or V). Lower-case letters indicate sig-
nificant differences between M and V in the presence of biochar or not. Bars represent
mean ± standard errors, n = 5.

creased soil water tension for the vermicompost treatment in the

second year of the experiment but significantly increased it for the con- (e.g., 0.26, 0.14 and 0.15 kg m−2 for the control soils, respectively for
trol and vermicompost treatment in the last year of the experiment the first, second and third years vs. 0.31, 0.18 and 0.29 kg m−2 on aver-
(Fig. 2b). age for the organic amendments, respectively for the first, second and
third years, P b 0.05 in all cases, Fig. 3). The type of organic amendment
3.3. Maize growth and yield, and weed development did not significantly influence maize growth in the first and third years
of the experiment (P N 0.05). However, the maize biomass measured in
Figs. 3 and 4 show the influence of the different treatments on maize the second year of the experiment was higher for the vermicompost
biomass and yield for the three years of the experiment. Maize biomass treatment compared with all the other treatments (e.g., 0.20 kg m−2
was always the lowest when chemical fertilization was used alone for vermicompost against 0.17 kg m−2 on average for compost and buf-
falo manure, P b 0.05). Incorporation of biochar in the soil increased
a) Control Buffalo manure Compost Vermicompost
maize growth. However, this effect was variable and it was not con-
firmed in the second year of the experiment for either the control or
200 vermicompost treatments (P N 0.05), or in the third year of the experi-
ment for the vermicompost treatment (P N 0.05).
Soil water tension (kPa)

Maize yields followed the same trend with higher values measured
150
when organic amendments were used (e.g., 5, 3 and 4 t ha−1 for the
control treatment after the first, second and third years of the experi-
100 ment, compared to 6.6, 4.3 and 6.0 t ha−1 on average for the other treat-
ments, for the first, second and third years of the experiment
respectively, Fig. 4). As mentioned above, differences between organic
50
amendments were low and in most cases not significant (P N 0.05),
except in the second year of the experiment when the maize yield
0 was highest for the vermicompost treatment (e.g., 4.7 t ha− 1 for
July Aug Sept Oct July Aug Sept Oct June July Aug Sept vermicompost, against 4.1 t ha−1 on average for buffalo manure and
2009 2010 2011 compost, and 3.2 t ha− 1 for the control treatment). In the last year,
the trend was similar without any significant difference between com-
post and vermicompost treatments. Biochar addition to vermicompost
b) Control Control + biochar Vermicompost Vermicompost + biochar increased maize yield significantly compared to the control treatment.
200
However this effect was only significant in the first year for both the
Soil water tension (kPa)

9 1st year 2nd year 3th year

150
a
A AB Ab BCc
c
d
Maize yield (t ha -1)

100 Ee DE CD
6 e f
Ff Gg
G G
50
Hh h

3
0
July Aug Sept Oct July Aug Sept Oct June July Aug Sept

2009 2010 2011

0
Fig. 2. Changes in soil moisture (kPa) (a) for the control, buffalo manure, compost and M BM C V M BM C V M BM C V
vermicompost treatments, (b) for the control and vermicompost treatments with or with-
out biochar. Only average soil moisture values over 10 day periods during maize cultiva- Fig. 4. Maize yield (t ha−1) for soil amended with mineral fertilizers only (control, M), or
tion are shown, n = 5. The planting (downward arrows) and harvesting dates (upward with organic fertilizers (buffalo manure: BM, compost: C, or vermicompost: V) in the pres-
arrows) are indicated. ence (in gray) or absence (in white) of biochar. See legend of Fig. 3 for more details, n = 5.
 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154 151

0.9 2nd year 3th year a

Aa presence of biochar also significantly reduced water flow and soil de-
A tachment for both the control and vermicompost treatments (P b 0.05
Weed biomass (kg m-2)

A a A in both cases). The cumulative quantity of soil and water lost by runoff
Aa
A
0.6
b nure, compost and vermicompost amendments. Among these three or-
b Bb
0.3
Bb
0 this effect was significant for both the control and vermicompost
M BM C V M BM C V
Fig. 5. Weed biomass (kg m−2) in soil amended with mineral fertilizers only (control, M),
or with organic fertilizers (buffalo manure: BD, compost: C, or vermicompost: V) in the
presence (in gray) or absence (in white) of biochar. See legend of Fig. 3 for more details,
n = 5.
control and vermicompost treatments (e.g., from 5.2 to 5.6 t ha−1 for
control and from 6.8 to 7.3 t ha−1 for vermicompost, P b 0.05), the sec-
ond year for the vermicompost treatment (e.g., from 4.6 to 5.2 t ha−1),
and in the last year of the experiment only for the control treatment
(from 4.2 to 4.7 t ha−1, P b 0.05 in all the cases).
Difference in weed biomass was not significant in the first year of the
experiment but reached almost 1 kg m−2 in the second and third years
(Fig. 5). Treatments significantly influenced weed biomass (P b 0.05). It
was significantly higher compared to the control when organic amend-
ments were used (P b 0.05 in comparison with the control) but no sig-
nificant differences were measured between the three organic
substrates (P N 0.05). Biochar did not significantly influence weed
growth (P N 0.05).
and leaching clearly confirmed the beneficial influence of buffalo ma-
ganic amendments, the most significant reductions in soil and water
loss were observed for the vermicompost treatment and the least signif-
icant reduction was measured with the buffalo manure. Compost
amendment led to intermediate results. Similarly, the application of
biochar also reduced the amount of soil and water lost (P b 0.05) and
treatments.
Table 3 shows the pH (average values) and quantity of NNH4+ and
NNO3− lost in the runoff and leachate solutions. The pH of the runoff
water was acidic (~5.6), as well as the leachate solution for the control
treatment in the first year of the experiment (5.8). In contrast, the pH of
the leachate was neutral or slightly alkaline (~7.4) for the manure, com-
post and vermicompost and for the control in the second and third years
of the experiment. Organic amendment led to a significant reduction in
NNH4+ and NNO3− leaching (P b 0.05), with a stronger effect for compost
and vermicompost, without a significant difference between them
(P N 0.05). The use of biochar also led to a significant reduction in
NH+ −
4 and NO3 leaching for the mineral and vermicompost treatments
(P b 0.05). As a consequence, the total quantity of NNH4+ and NNO3− lost
by runoff and leaching water was higher for the control treatment,
with around 4 g and 26 g, respectively. These quantities were signifi-
cantly reduced when OM was applied and the effect was more pro-
nounced in the presence of vermicompost than buffalo manure
(P b 0.05). The application of compost led to intermediate results.
4. Discussion

3.4. Water flow, soil detachment and nutrient loss 4.1. Plant biomass and yield

Soil loss, water runoff and leachate properties are shown in Table 2.
Leaching and runoff water were significantly reduced when organic
amendments were used (P b 0.05), and this effect was the most signifi-
cant for the vermicompost treatment. Soil detachment was also signifi-
cantly reduced, with vermicompost having the highest effect. The
In our study, maize growth and yield were effectively increased in
the presence of organic amendments, mainly because these increased
the amount of nutrients and water available to the plants. As a
consequence of this higher nutrient content, plant weeds also
responded favorably to organic amendments, but there was no

Table 2
Runoff water (Wrunoff), leachate (Wleachate) and soil detachment (Soil loss) from the mesocosms (note that there was no leachate in the second year). Data are shown for the three years of
the experiment (top section) and cumulated over the three years (lower section). Treatments are: control (mineral fertilizer only, in the presence of biochar ‘+’ or not ‘−’), buffalo manure,
compost and vermicompost (in the presence of biochar ‘+’ or not ‘−’). See legend of Table 1 for more details, n = 5.

Fertilization Biochar Wleachate (mm) Wrunoff (mm) Soil loss (kg m−2)
De Fi
Yr 1 Control − 182.9 (5.7) 72.2 (2.8) 0.77De (0.02)
+ 174.5ef (3.2) 68.2i (3.7) 0.54e (0.02)
Manure 177.8DE (3.9) 63.0FG (2.9) 0.42D (0.04)
Compost 172.3EF (4.9) 57.8G (2.4) 0.35D (0.01)
Vermicompost − 169.9Ffg (5.5) 56.9Gj (2.3) 0.33De (0.03)
+ 160.0g (2.3) 56.5j (2.7) 0.28e (0.02)
Yr 2 Control − 319.8De (5.1) 14.78Aa (1.7)
+ 302.1f (1.8) 11.25b (1.0)
Manure 288.3E (7.9) 7.05B (1.10)
Compost 289.9E (4.0) 6.40B (0.35)
Vermicompost − 289.2Eg (3.5) 5.45Cc (0.25)
+ 278.9h (2.0) 3.88d (0.27)
Yr 3 Control − 391.9Aa (5.5) 494.9Aa (10.5) 0.73De (0.05)
+ 358.3b (14.1) 425.3b (7.1) 0.49e (0.08)
Manure 330.0B (3.1) 319.0B (11.7) 0.26D (0.02)
Compost 316.4C (10.3) 314.2B (8.3) 0.24D (0.02)
Vermicompost − 308.8Cc (4.9) 305.0Cc (9.5) 0.25De (0.01)
+ 257.5d (14.6) 247.3d (5.0) 0.14e (0.01)
Total Control − 574.8Aa (5.5) 886.9Aa (12.5) 16.29Aa (1.60)
Yrs 1–3 + 532.9b (15.3) 795.6b (5.1) 12.28b (1.00)
Manure 507.7B (5.8) 670.3B (11.7) 7.74B (1.10)
Compost 488.7C(8.5) 661.9BC(10.7) 6.99BC (0.40)
Vermicompost − 478.7Dc (5.2) 651,1Bc (10.7) 6.03Cc (0.30)
+ 417.5d (12.9) 582.7d (5.7) 4.30d (0.30)
152 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154

Table 3 stress (T°C, water stress) or limited water or nutrients. Further studies
Chemical properties of the runoff water and leachate for the three years of the experiment. are now needed to determine if vermicompost can be a potential
Average HH2O values and quantity of NNH4+ and NNO3− (g m−2) every year for the runoff
water and leachate. Total amount of N NH 4 + and N NO 3 − lost during the experiment
amendment for increasing agrosystem resistance to perturbations or
(runoff + leachate water). Treatments are control (mineral fertilizer only, in the presence environmental stress.
of biochar ‘+’ or not ‘−’ ), buffalo manure, compost and vermicompost (in the presence of The influence of biochar addition to soils leads to highly variable re-
biochar ‘+’ or not ‘-’). See legend of Table 1 for more details, n = 5. sults (Paz-Ferreiro et al., 2014) and its utilization does not always result
Fertilization Biochar pH NNH4+ (g m−2) NNO3− (g m−2) in consistent yield increases (Jones et al., 2012). This variability is usual-
ly explained by the different compositions and structures of biochar,
Runoff
Yr 1 Control − 5.8Ad (0.1) 0.40EFfg (0.02) 0.54Bb (0.03) which largely depend not only on the pyrolysis conditions and initial
+ 5.0d (0.1) 0.39fg (0.02) 0.51b (0.14) feedstock (Chatterjee et al., 2012; Windeatt et al., 2014), but also on
Manure 5.4A (0.2) 0.37EF (0.01) 0.54B (0.02) the soil properties (Spokas et al., 2012; Andrew et al., 2013). In this
Compost 5.5A (0.1) 0.34F (0.01) 0.47B (0.01) study, biochar amendment increased maize yield and growth, although
Vermicompost − 5.5Ab (0.1) 0.35Fg (0.01) 0.42Bb (0.02)
+ 5.5b (0.1) 0.33g (0.01) 0.35b (0.02)
to a lesser extent. Therefore our results confirm the potential of bamboo
Yr 2 Control − 5.5Bb (0.1) 0.77BCc (0.05) 0.74Bb (0.05) biochar for improving agriculture performance in low fertility tropical
+ 5.8b (0.2) 0.55de (0.03) 0.55b (0.05) soils (Andrew et al., 2013). However, we observed that the beneficial ef-
Manure 5.9A (0.2) 0.48E (0.02) 0.52B (0.04) fect of biochar was not consistent over time. The use of biochar had a
Compost 5.9A (0.2) 0.47E (0.04) 0.49B (0.03)
beneficial impact on plant yield in the first and last years of the experi-
Vermicompost − 5.9Aa (0.1) 0.47Eef (0.05) 0.45Bb (0.02)
+ 5.9a (0.1) 0.39fg (0.02) 0.37b (0.04) ment for the control treatment while its effect was significant for the
Yr 3 Control − 5.0Bc (0.1) 1.59Aa (0.17) 2.09a (0.04) first and second years of the experiment when added in addition to
+ 5.5c (0.0) 0.93b (0.14) 1.57a (0.05) vermicompost. These results are in agreement with the general as-
Manure 5.5A (0.0) 0.84B (0.23) 1.51A (0.07) sumption that biochar can constitute an interesting substrate for im-
Compost 5.7A (0.1) 0.55CD (0.09) 1.41A (0.05)
proving the long-term productivity of soils (Lehmann et al., 2003;
Vermicompost − 5.8Aa (0.0) 0.51Dd (0.05) 1.30Aa (0.05)
+ 5.8a (0.0) 0.45c (0.05) 0.95a (0.05) Suzette et al., 2011) but longer term studies are now needed to elucidate
why the effects of bamboo biochar on plant productivity are variable.
Leachate
Further studies are also needed to investigate the mechanisms by
Yr 1 Control − 5.8Dd (0.0) 0.41Bb (0.01) 10.2Bb (0.54)
+ 7.1d (0.1) 0.40b (0.03) 9.81b (0.91) which bamboo biochar, and its interaction with organic amendment
Manure 7.4B (0.0) 0.40B (0.02) 8.95b (0.91) (vermicompost in our study), improves crop production (Spokas et al.,
Compost 7.4B (0.0) 0.39B (0.02) 7.94F (0.54) 2012; Biederman and Harpole, 2013; Lashari et al., 2013; Liu et al.,
Vermicompost − 7.4Bb (0.1) 0.39Bbc (0.05) 8.04EFcd (0.55)
2013).
+ 7.4b (0.0) 0.32bc (0.04) 7.13d (0.45)
Yr 3 Control − 7.0Ca (0.1) 1.07Aa (0.22) 13.7Aa (1.01)
+ 7.3a (0.1) 0.57a (0.20) 9.58b (0.57) 4.2. Soil and nutrient loss
Manure 7.4B (0.1) 0.67A (0.11) 9.29C (0.75)
Compost 7.4B (0.0) 0.49A (0.11) 8.84CDE (0.24) Although the effect of the type of organic amendment on plant
Vermicompost − 7.5Aa (0.0) 0.27Ac (0.0) 8.29DEFc (0.43)
growth and yield was limited, it was of primary importance for the reg-
+ 7.7a (0.0) 0.22c (0.03) 5.55e (1.05)
ulation of water hydrodynamics and nutrient loss. OM amendment re-
Total duced water runoff and leaching, soil detachment and mineral N loss
Yrs 1–3 Control − 4.24Aa (0.40) 27.27Aa (0.70)
by runoff and leaching. Among organic amendments, the lowest water
+ 2.84b (0.20) 22.02b (1.40)
Manure 2.76B (0.20) 20.81B (1.10) runoff and leaching, soil detachment and mineral N leaching values
Compost 2.24BC (0.20) 19.15C (0.80) were measured for the vermicompost treatment. Improved soil physical
Vermicompost − 1.99Cc (0.10) 18.50Cc (0.40) properties after OM amendment have been observed, including more
+ 1.71d (0.10) 14.35d (0.80)
elongated macropores, which are very important in terms of water con-
ductivity and water availability to plants and for improved water hold-
ing capacity (Marinari et al., 2000). Since vermicompost is more stable
significant difference between the different types of organic amend- and resistant to degradation than compost (Ngo et al., 2013; 2014),
ments. The lower soil moisture and higher water infiltration following this may explain why the water holding capacity and hydraulic conduc-
organic soil amendments also suggest improved water use efficiency, tivity of soils increased more in the presence of vermicompost than with
which is consistent with the increased plant growth. Surprisingly, al- compost. The increased plant growth which follows after the incorpora-
though maize growth and yields were higher in vermicompost tion of organic amendments may also generate higher transpiration
amended soil, this effect was only significant in the second year of the rates which in turn lead to improved plant nutrient and water use effi-
experiment. While in the other years there was no difference between ciency (Delgado and Follett, 2002). This scenario is consistent with the
buffalo manure, compost and vermicompost when applied alone. higher water retention in soil which was amended with vermicompost,
Thus, this study did not confirm the general assumption that thus suggesting increased water utilization by the maize plants. These
vermicompost has a more beneficial effect on plant growth than findings agree with results from previous laboratory studies which
composted or non-composted organic substrates (Theunissen et al., found reduced water and nutrient leaching from vermicompost
2010; Suthar, 2011). The different results may be explained by the fact amended soils (Jouquet et al., 2010, 2011).
that most of the studies which aimed to compare the influence of Finally, biochar has also been reported to influence soil physical
vermicompost and compost on plant growth and yield were carried properties, such as water retention, porosity and hydraulic conductivity
out in pots under optimal conditions in the laboratory or greenhouse (Asai et al., 2009; Novak et al., 2009; Clough et al., 2013; Githinji, 2014).
(i.e., Ferreras et al., 2006; Jouquet et al., 2011; Doan et al., 2013b), Indeed, we found that biochar had a positive influence on soil erosion
while our experiment occurred under natural rainfall conditions. As with reduced volumes of runoff water and soil detachment rates. Our
shown by Lazcano et al. (2011), under these conditions the positive ef- study also supported hypotheses concerning the positive influence of
fect of vermicompost is likely to depend on a large number of environ- biochar on water infiltration and nutrient retention in soil (Lehmann
mental factors. In this study, in the second year of the experiment, the et al., 2003; Steiner et al., 2008; Biederman and Harpole, 2013). As
overall maize growth and yield were the lowest and it was also the dri- highlighted by Clough et al. (2013), the short- and long-term influences
est year. Thus our results suggest that the positive influence of of biochar on SOM mineralization and N cycling are specific to individ-
vermicompost occurs when plants are subjected to environmental ual soil–biochar combinations. Biochar adsorption of NO− 3 occurs
 T.T. Doan et al. / Science of the Total Environment 514 (2015) 147–154
when the pyrolysis temperature is N600 °C (Clough et al., 2013), which
was the case for the biochar used in these experiments. The higher CEC
of soils in the presence of biochar would also explain the higher adsorp-
tion of NH+ 4 . Finally, as suggested above for vermicompost, because bio-
char increased plant growth and water use, this could have resulted in
lower soil moisture.
5. Conclusion
This study clearly highlighted the importance of the type of the or-
ganic amendment on plant growth and yield, as well as soil, water
and mineral N losses. Vermicompost led to a slight improvement in
plant growth and yield. However, its effect was potentially more inter-
esting when the plants were in a situation of environmental stress
(year 2). This suggests that it could be a promising substrate for improv-
ing the resistance of agrosystems to water stress. Organic amendment
also reduced water runoff, soil detachment and the transfer of NH+
4
and NO− 3 to water. These effects were more significant with
vermicompost than with buffalo manure and compost. Thus, one of
the key conclusions of this study is that the beneficial influence of
vermicompost is not limited to its influence on plant growth and
yield. This amendment can also significantly reduce the negative impact
of organic fertilization on water quality. In addition, we showed that
these positive effects are amplified in the presence of biochar. The sec-
ond key conclusion of this study therefore is that the combination of
these two technologies offers a unique opportunity to improve plant
productivity but also to reduce the negative impact of agriculture on
the environment.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported financially by the SystéMO and BioGEAQ
projects and the French institutes IRD (unit research UMR-242-iEES
Paris) and CNRS. We also would like to thank Patrice Lamballe from
GRET and the Green Bamboo project. Doan Thu Thuy was supported
by grants from the French embassy and IRD.
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