Phospholipid fatty acid profile in soil amended with biochar

Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis of soil can reveal an unedited picture of the soil microbial structure. High throughput PLFA extraction method coupled to a pre-programmed PLFA naming process decreases time, use of reagents and reduce the possible mistakes that can occur with non-automatic PLFA testing methods. PLFA analysis of four different biochar amended soils were compared for microbial communities. The analysis revealed that four biochar augmented soils had different PLFAs and microbial group structure compared to control. The alteration in microbial group structure could be due to the variation of physical and chemical properties of different biochar, which helps in C conservation indicating that PLFA provides a reliable method for the measurement of microbial groups in biochar amended soils.