Australia's ABC news network reports that the country's scientists are adapting a soil fertility technique used by Amazonian Indians for thousands of years. They burned their waste organic matter in low-intensity fires and added the charred material to their land.
Researcher Lucas Van Zweiten said in composting, the majority of carbon is lost naturally to microbial degradation into carbon dioxide, but in pyrolisys up to 50 per cent of carbon is maintained as char which can last for several thousand years in the soil.
The method is now being considered as a way of trapping excess carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but was used by the Indians to improve fertility on intensively-managed soils.
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February 19, 2007
Ancient Amazon burn technique preserves carbon, boosts soil fertility
Categories soil fertility
