A global dataset of biochar application effects on crop yield, soil properties, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Biochar application is widely studied to mitigate the threats of soil degradation to food security and climate change. However, there are big variations in the effects of biochar application on crops, soils, and the atmosphere during crop production. This study provides a global dataset of biochar application effects on crop yield, soil properties, and greenhouse emissions. The dataset is extracted and integrated from 367 peer-reviewed studies with 891 independent field, laboratory, and incubation experiments across 37 countries. This dataset includes 21 variables before and after biochar application (including soil properties, crop yield, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) of 2438 items, focusing on two main biochar application types: biochar application alone and combined with fertilizers. Background information on climate conditions, initial soil properties, management practices, and characteristics of biochar sources and production is also contained in the dataset. This dataset facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the impact of biochar application, supports the utilization of agricultural wastes for biochar production, and assists researchers in refining experimental protocols for further studies.

[Impacts of Fertilization on Soil Antibiotic Resistance Genes Across Croplands: A Meta-Analysis].

The objective of this study was to clarify and quantify the impact of fertilizer applications on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in cropland soil. The target was to provide scientific basis for a better understanding of the source and accumulation and transportation characteristics of ARGs in soil and adaptive management strategy-making to secure the ecological environment and human health safety. By collecting data from literature published within the last 20 years (2000-2020), we established a database with 215 and 201 groups of a paired data-set consisting of the quantity and relative abundance of ARGs under independent experimental conditions. Compared to that with no fertilizer, the combined application of organic fertilizer significantly increased the quantity and relative abundance of soil ARGs by 110.0% and 91.0%, respectively. However, chemical fertilization had no significant effect on soil ARGs. The increment of relative abundance of soil ARGs by the combined application of organic fertilizer in the subtropical region was equivalent to 2.6 times that in the warm temperate zone. Compared with that in black soil and dark brown soil, the combined application of organic fertilizer significantly increased the relative abundance of ARGs in red soil and paddy soil in the subtropical region. The increment for the quantity of ARGs (147.6%) by the combined application of organic fertilizer in soil with pH<7 was significantly higher than that in soil with pH>7(110.4%). Compared to poultry manure, livestock manure application significantly increased the quantity and relative abundance of ARGs. The increment of the relative abundance of organic fertilizer to sulfonamide, multidrug, and macrolide ARGs (170.5%-201.2%) was significantly higher than that of quinolone, tetracycline, and aminoglycoside ARGs (61.5%-115.6%). After more than 10 years of applying organic fertilizer, the quantity of soil ARGs significantly increased by 104.2%-112.3%, whereas the effect on the relative abundance was uncertain. Climate, soil spatial properties, and source and amount of organic fertilizer were the main factors affecting the accumulation of ARGs in farmland soil. Management strategies and solutions should pay more attention to effectively minimizing the accumulation and spread of ARGs in agro-ecosystems for high-quality agricultural development in the future.

First-principles studies of HF and HCl adsorption over graphene.

In this paper, the adsorption characteristics of HF and HCl over graphene were studied by the first-principles method. The results showed that the adsorption of HCl over graphene was a weak chemical adsorption, while HF was a weak physical adsorption. The density of states showed that HCl and graphene at - 4.3 eV are relative to the Fermi level. At the same time, there is no obvious change and hybridization between HF-graphene system near the Fermi level. Furthermore, when HCl and HF molecules adsorbed over the graphene simultaneously, two optimal adsorption structures would be chosen to investigate how HCl and HF molecules jointly affected adsorption properties. The result showed that two gas molecules adsorbed over graphene could enhance the adsorption effect and influenced electronic distribution. Graphical abstract HF and HCl over graphene belong to weak physical and chemical adsorption separately. Two gases on graphene surface can be enhanced.