Biochar Application Improves Soil Aggregate Stability and Aggregate-Associated Carbon Fractions Through Microbial Community Regulation in Eucalyptus Plantations—A Seven-Year Field Experiment

Abstract

Biochar has been used to improve soils and promote sustainable agricultural development. The effects of applying different doses of biochar on soil aggregate structure and stability, aggregate-associated microbial communities, aggregate carbon fractions, and underlying mechanisms in planted forest soil ecosystems remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the effects of biochar amendment (7 years) on carbon stabilization in plantation soils. The effects of biochar application (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) on water-stable aggregate distribution, stability indices such as mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and fractal dimension (D), aggregate-associated microbial communities (fungal and bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs)), and carbon fractions such as soil organic carbon (SOC), easily oxidized organic carbon (EOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC) and black carbon (BC) were investigated based on a seven-year in situ field experiment in a Eucalyptus plantation in northern Guangxi. The results showed that after 7 years, biochar application significantly increased the proportion of macroaggregates (≥0.25 mm). The MWD and GMD increased significantly with increasing biochar application rates, whereas D decreased significantly, indicating enhanced soil structural stability. Biochar significantly increased the abundance of fungi and bacteria across all aggregate size classes and changed the microbial community structure towards conditions that promoted increased carbon stabilization. Additionally, biochar application significantly increased both recalcitrant (ROC and BC) and labile carbon (EOC, POC, DOC, and MBC) in all aggregate fractions, with the largest increments in macroaggregates. Based on correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), we speculated that biochar might enhance the physical protection and chemical sequestration of organic carbon by optimizing the physical structure of the aggregates and synergizing with the microbial carbon pump. The 7-year application of biochar significantly enhanced the SOC content in plantation soils, primarily by increasing recalcitrant organic carbon, demonstrating that biochar application constitutes a viable approach to augmenting persistent soil carbon stabilization in plantation ecosystems. The 4% and 6% treatments produced the largest responses for most of the measured indicators, underscoring the importance of biochar application.