Morphological and ‘omics’ analysis of root systems in agronomics plant grown under biochar applications

The continued increase of the demand for agricultural crops is responsible of a strong environmental deterioration due to soil fragmentation as well as, to a massive use of fertilizers uses that pollute both water and terrestrial ecosystems. In the future, this demand will growth up more and more. This explain why is crucial to find a new approach and new technologies to achieve greater yields with a lower environmental impact. Biochar is a solid material obtained from a process called pyrolysis characterized by a thermal transformation of biomass at high temperature and in the absence of oxygen. This mineral transformation attributes to biochar a skeletal structure that looks like a carbon sponge, which allows a higher water retention. The addition of biochar to the soil reduces leaching of ammonium compared to untreated soil due to its characteristic sponge structure and recently, it has been observed that also the total nitrates/nitrites, ammonia and nitrogen content and the nitrogen fixation rate are affected. The aim of this work is investigate some morphological and molecular response of plants treated with biochar. For this purpose, two of the most important crop species and one model specie have been tested: 1) Solanum lycopersicum (Cherry tomato of Pachino vr), 2) Vitis vinifera (Chardonnay cv) and 3) Arabidopsis thaliana. Concerning Cherry tomato cultivar, the plant treated with biochar has shown an interesting modification of seedling and fruit traits – especially in the case of fruit quality. In regard to Vitis vinifera, positive effects have been detected in both experiments (pot and field treatments) with biochar, improving the root length in pot experiment while the radial root growth in field experiment. Finally, in Arabidopsis, biochar addition has induced positive effects in all the parameters measured under normal watering regime. In the case of seedlings affected by water stress, the presence of biochar seemed to inhibit strongly the plants growth. Data obtained in this work throw light upon some of the most important aspects of plant nutrition and development. They indicate how those are modified in presence of biochar.