In the hilly red soil region of southern China, soil acidification is a
serious problem due to climate conditions and unreasonable
anthropogenic activities (Guo et al., 2010). Degraded soils in this
region are also characterized by high clay content and low
permeability. Soil porosity could be an important factor responding
to biochar addition (McCormack et al., 2012). Ventilation conditions
controlled by the permeability of the soil pore system are very
important for soil biochemical processes, e.g., nitrogen (N)
nitrification and N mineralization, which may also influence the
amendment effectiveness of biocharonsoil acidity. Therefore, in this
study, an incubation experiment was conducted using a modified
method (ventilated and sealed) that has been developed based on
Yuan et al. (2011a). The objective of this work was to compare the
effects of fresh and aged biochars on soil acidity amendment with
different incubation methods in a short-term period.