41a36c6013d45635eb89128f6f20a7d5 earth-06-00027-v4.pdf cf3b2aa4b78801d008886ca3c7caaabab00bab7e earth-06-00027-v4.pdf b0272fb80d0d872cb605bd76610ca8806932b8a1fb4692153297e872f4d47d2b earth-06-00027-v4.pdf Title: Assessing the Modulatory Effects of Biochar on Soil Health Status in Response to Pesticide Application Subject: Considering the global competition to increase food productivity due to the increasing population growth, the use of chemical pesticides has become the quick solution, but by increasing awareness about the serious dangers of wasteful chemicals in various areas of life, it has become necessary to move immediately, albeit gradually, towards safe biological treatments. From this point of view, the use of biochar is one of the trends in reducing soil pollution with chemical pesticides. Therefore, the main objectives of this work are (i) to assess if the application of three pesticides based on imidacloprid, methyl thiophanate, and glyphosate has detectable adverse consequences on soil organisms’ activity and (ii) to evaluate if the addition of biochar modifies the effects of these chemicals. An agricultural soil was amended with different doses of biochar. The treated soil received realistic amounts of currently used pesticides. Samples were stored at 21 C and 50% WHC (water holding capacity) for a period of 28 days under dark conditions. Oxygen consumption was measured for 12 consecutive hours after the addition of 2.5 g glucose kg-1 as a stimulant for soil organisms. Biomass C was estimated from the difference between the amount of C in 0.5 M K2SO4 extracts of CHCl3 fumigated soil and the extractable C in non-fumigated samples. Specific respiration was computed as the amount of O2 consumed per unit of Biomass Carbon. The results of this work proved that the tested biochar could modulate the effects produced by the agrochemicals on soil biomass. Keywords: biochar; pesticides; soil biosystem; soil biodiversity; soil micro- and macro-organisms; soil vitality; climate change; agrochemical contamination; soil quality; mitigating effect Author: Giovanna B. Melas, Oriol Ortiz, Amira M. Roshdy, Mohamed Y. Hendawi, Dimitrios Triantakonstantis and Sameh Shaddad Creator: LaTeX with hyperref Producer: pdfTeX-1.40.25 CreationDate: Tue May 6 11:02:59 2025 CEST ModDate: Tue May 6 11:05:47 2025 CEST Custom Metadata: no Metadata Stream: no Tagged: no UserProperties: no Suspects: no Form: none JavaScript: no Pages: 12 Encrypted: no Page size: 595.276 x 841.89 pts (A4) Page rot: 0 File size: 2173673 bytes Optimized: no PDF version: 1.7 name type encoding emb sub uni object ID ------------------------------------ ----------------- ---------------- --- --- --- --------- AIRHKL+VnURWPalladioL Type 1 Custom yes yes yes 10 0 AJQFVE+URWPalladioL-Roma Type 1 Custom yes yes yes 16 0 RSKWOB+URWPalladioL-Bold Type 1 Custom yes yes yes 22 0 DKLPBR+URWPalladioL-Ital Type 1 Custom yes yes yes 27 0 XYPWHM+CMSY10 Type 1 Builtin yes yes yes 32 0 OVNEXW+EURM10 Type 1 Builtin yes yes yes 61 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 80 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 83 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 89 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 92 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 109 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 112 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 118 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 121 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 138 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 141 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 147 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 150 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 169 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 172 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 178 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 181 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 196 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 199 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 205 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 208 0 PPBGGN+PalatinoLinotype,Bold TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 223 0 PPBGGO+PalatinoLinotype CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 226 0 PPBGHP+PalatinoLinotype TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 232 0 PPBGIB+PalatinoLinotype,Italic TrueType WinAnsi yes yes no 235 0 PPBMHN+TimesNewRoman CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes yes 238 0 Jhove (Rel. 1.28.0, 2023-05-18) Date: 2025-09-18 03:08:39 CEST RepresentationInformation: earth-06-00027-v4.pdf ReportingModule: PDF-hul, Rel. 1.12.4 (2023-03-16) LastModified: 2025-09-17 14:15:27 CEST Size: 2173673 Format: PDF Version: 1.7 Status: Well-Formed and valid SignatureMatches: PDF-hul MIMEtype: application/pdf PDFMetadata: Objects: 375 FreeObjects: 1 IncrementalUpdates: 0 DocumentCatalog: PageLayout: SinglePage PageMode: UseNone Outlines: Item: Title: Introduction Destination: section.1 Item: Title: Materials and Methods Destination: section.2 Children: Item: Title: Soil Sampling Destination: subsection.2.1 Item: Title: Biochar Preparation Destination: subsection.2.2 Item: Title: Pesticide Selection Destination: subsection.2.3 Item: Title: Pesticides Application Destination: subsection.2.4 Item: Title: Microbial Estimation Destination: subsection.2.5 Children: Item: Title: Microbial Biomass C Estimation Destination: subsubsection.2.5.1 Item: Title: Microbial O2 Consumption Estimation Destination: subsubsection.2.5.2 Item: Title: Statistics Destination: subsection.2.6 Item: Title: Results Destination: section.3 Children: Item: Title: Biochar Effects Destination: subsection.3.1 Item: Title: Insecticide Effects Destination: subsection.3.2 Item: Title: Fungicide Effects Destination: subsection.3.3 Item: Title: Herbicide Effects Destination: subsection.3.4 Item: Title: Discussion Destination: section.4 Children: Item: Title: Influence of Biochar on Soil Microbial Indicators Destination: subsection.4.1 Item: Title: Insecticide Effects Destination: subsection.4.2 Item: Title: Fungicide Effects Destination: subsection.4.3 Item: Title: Herbicide Effects Destination: subsection.4.4 Item: Title: Conclusions Destination: section.5 Item: Title: References Destination: section.6 Info: Title: Assessing the Modulatory Effects of Biochar on Soil Health Status in Response to Pesticide Application Author: Giovanna B. Melas, Oriol Ortiz, Amira M. Roshdy, Mohamed Y. Hendawi, Dimitrios Triantakonstantis and Sameh Shaddad Subject: Considering the global competition to increase food productivity due to the increasing population growth, the use of chemical pesticides has become the quick solution, but by increasing awareness about the serious dangers of wasteful chemicals in various areas of life, it has become necessary to move immediately, albeit gradually, towards safe biological treatments. From this point of view, the use of biochar is one of the trends in reducing soil pollution with chemical pesticides. Therefore, the main objectives of this work are (i) to assess if the application of three pesticides based on imidacloprid, methyl thiophanate, and glyphosate has detectable adverse consequences on soil organisms’ activity and (ii) to evaluate if the addition of biochar modifies the effects of these chemicals. An agricultural soil was amended with different doses of biochar. The treated soil received realistic amounts of currently used pesticides. Samples were stored at 21 C and 50% WHC (water holding capacity) for a period of 28 days under dark conditions. Oxygen consumption was measured for 12 consecutive hours after the addition of 2.5 g glucose kg-1 as a stimulant for soil organisms. Biomass C was estimated from the difference between the amount of C in 0.5 M K2SO4 extracts of CHCl3 fumigated soil and the extractable C in non-fumigated samples. Specific respiration was computed as the amount of O2 consumed per unit of Biomass Carbon. The results of this work proved that the tested biochar could modulate the effects produced by the agrochemicals on soil biomass. Keywords: biochar; pesticides; soil biosystem; soil biodiversity; soil micro- and macro-organisms; soil vitality; climate change; agrochemical contamination; soil quality; mitigating effect Creator: LaTeX with hyperref Producer: pdfTeX-1.40.25 CreationDate: Tue May 06 11:02:59 CEST 2025 ModDate: Tue May 06 11:05:47 CEST 2025 ID: 0xf1e282a918fc288e1084379e2a2f51d0, 0xf1e282a918fc288e1084379e2a2f51d0 Filters: FilterPipeline: FlateDecode Fonts: Type1: Font: BaseFont: AJQFVE+URWPalladioL-Roma FontSubset: true FirstChar: 2 LastChar: 243 FontDescriptor: FontName: AJQFVE+URWPalladioL-Roma Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -166, -283, 1021, 943 FontFile: true EncodingDictionary: Differences: true ToUnicode: true Font: BaseFont: XYPWHM+CMSY10 FontSubset: true FirstChar: 0 LastChar: 14 FontDescriptor: FontName: XYPWHM+CMSY10 Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -29, -960, 1116, 775 FontFile: true ToUnicode: true Font: BaseFont: RSKWOB+URWPalladioL-Bold FontSubset: true FirstChar: 2 LastChar: 134 FontDescriptor: FontName: RSKWOB+URWPalladioL-Bold Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -152, -301, 1000, 935 FontFile: true EncodingDictionary: Differences: true ToUnicode: true Font: BaseFont: AIRHKL+VnURWPalladioL FontSubset: true FirstChar: 160 LastChar: 225 FontDescriptor: FontName: AIRHKL+VnURWPalladioL Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -166, -283, 1021, 943 FontFile: true EncodingDictionary: Differences: true ToUnicode: true Font: BaseFont: DKLPBR+URWPalladioL-Ital FontSubset: true FirstChar: 3 LastChar: 121 FontDescriptor: FontName: DKLPBR+URWPalladioL-Ital Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -170, -305, 1010, 941 FontFile: true EncodingDictionary: Differences: true ToUnicode: true Font: BaseFont: OVNEXW+EURM10 FontSubset: true FirstChar: 22 LastChar: 22 FontDescriptor: FontName: OVNEXW+EURM10 Flags: Symbolic FontBBox: -32, -243, 1060, 720 FontFile: true ToUnicode: true Pages: Page: Sequence: 1 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 87, 177, 152, 186 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 34, 166, 103, 174 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 36, 75, 152, 84 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 34, 63, 89, 72 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 34, 773, 118, 809 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 515, 773, 560, 809 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 296, 663, 307, 677 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 419, 663, 430, 677 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 174, 652, 185, 663 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 286, 652, 297, 663 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 421, 27, 560, 37 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 34, 344, 87, 363 Page: Sequence: 2 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 247, 647, 254, 656 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 443, 633, 450, 642 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 186, 591, 193, 600 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 256, 494, 263, 503 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 196, 466, 203, 475 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 213, 438, 220, 447 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 549, 424, 556, 433 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 497, 396, 504, 405 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 549, 368, 556, 377 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 215, 285, 222, 294 ActionDest: 249 Page: Sequence: 3 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 506, 742, 513, 754 ActionDest: 58 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 376, 149, 383, 161 ActionDest: 66 Page: Sequence: 4 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 248, 442, 255, 451 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 372, 442, 379, 451 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 505, 442, 517, 451 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 320, 269, 332, 278 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 398, 255, 410, 264 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 447, 213, 459, 222 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 234, 103, 241, 112 ActionDest: 156 Page: Sequence: 5 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 461, 370, 468, 382 ActionDest: 159 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 471, 370, 478, 382 ActionDest: 213 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 281, 232, 288, 244 ActionDest: 159 Page: Sequence: 6 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 217, 228, 224, 240 ActionDest: 186 Page: Sequence: 7 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 408, 353, 415, 365 ActionDest: 213 Page: Sequence: 8 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 275, 295, 282, 303 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 282, 295, 294, 303 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 297, 294, 309, 303 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 188, 253, 200, 262 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 201, 253, 213, 262 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 234, 225, 246, 234 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 391, 183, 403, 192 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 406, 183, 418, 192 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 543, 141, 555, 150 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 427, 71, 439, 81 ActionDest: 252 Page: Sequence: 9 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 388, 703, 400, 712 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 410, 689, 422, 698 ActionDest: 252 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 425, 689, 437, 698 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 385, 495, 392, 504 ActionDest: 249 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 392, 495, 404, 504 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 451, 413, 463, 422 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 186, 371, 198, 380 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 473, 246, 485, 255 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 486, 246, 498, 255 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 207, 94, 219, 103 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 219, 94, 231, 103 ActionDest: 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 263, 80, 275, 89 ActionDest: 256 Page: Sequence: 10 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 211, 164, 248, 175 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 278, 138, 316, 149 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 321, 113, 359, 124 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 365, 113, 401, 124 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 218, 88, 255, 98 Page: Sequence: 11 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 59, 731, 96, 742 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 147, 693, 184, 703 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 432, 668, 470, 678 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 166, 553, 204, 563 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 196, 514, 234, 524 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 108, 489, 146, 499 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 168, 463, 206, 473 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 336, 437, 374, 448 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 290, 411, 328, 422 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 263, 386, 301, 397 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 109, 348, 146, 358 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 59, 323, 96, 333 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 418, 296, 455, 307 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 520, 284, 557, 295 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 154, 246, 191, 256 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 59, 221, 96, 231 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 430, 207, 467, 218 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 350, 169, 386, 180 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 237, 143, 275, 154 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 267, 118, 304, 129 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 414, 92, 451, 103 Page: Sequence: 12 Annotations: Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 132, 731, 170, 742 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 95, 706, 133, 716 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 520, 679, 557, 690 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 390, 603, 427, 614 Annotation: Subtype: Link Rect: 413, 577, 451, 588 Checksum: dde7d67b Type: CRC32 Checksum: 41a36c6013d45635eb89128f6f20a7d5 Type: MD5 Checksum: cf3b2aa4b78801d008886ca3c7caaabab00bab7e Type: SHA-1 Checksum: b0272fb80d0d872cb605bd76610ca8806932b8a1fb4692153297e872f4d47d2b Type: SHA-256