Table 3. Effect of biochars applied alone or mixed with N fertilizer on shoot and root characteristics of maize grown in pots under greenhouse conditions.
| Treatments | Shoot length (cm) | Shoot fresh weight (g plant-1) | Shoot dry weight (g plant-1) | Root length (cm) | Root fresh weight (g plant-1) | Root dry weight (g plant-1) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | Vegetative stage | Tasseling stage | |
| Control | 74.9e | 94.1c | 23.8e | 48.8f | 3.5d | 5.0d | 15.7c | 46.1f | 3.5c | 9.6e | 0.57f | 2.76d |
| UN200 | 98.1bc | 109.8b | 49.7b | 63.9c | 5.6c | 13.6a | 18.4b | 56.8de | 6.8a | 21.9a | 1.16bc | 6.56a |
| UN100 | 92.9d | 100.1c | 40.9d | 60.5cd | 5.4c | 7.3c | 17.5bc | 53.9e | 4.9b | 15. d | 1.01cd | 3.73c |
| WCRB30 | 92.5d | 110.7b | 39.0d | 58.7de | 4.9cd | 6.9cd | 17.7bc | 60.9cd | 4.5bc | 17.0cd | 0.81e | 3.32cd |
| PMB30 | 97.4bc | 113.5ab | 44.3c | 57.8de | 6.2c | 13.8a | 18.5b | 61.6c | 4.5bc | 20.1ab | 0.86de | 3.45cd |
| WCRB15+PMB15 | 94.8cd | 116.4ab | 39.3d | 54.0e | 7.7b | 11.2b | 19.2b | 62.7bc | 4.3bc | 19.1bc | 0.89de | 3.77c |
| UN50+WCRB50 | 102.0a | 119.4a | 55.1a | 71.5b | 9.3a | 15.1a | 22.6a | 66.4ab | 7.1a | 19.2bc | 1.37a | 4.91b |
| UN50+PMB50 | 102.4a | 113.3ab | 55.7a | 79.2a | 8.4ab | 14.1a | 19.2b | 69.1a | 7.3a | 21.5a | 1.27ab | 4.70b |
| UN50+WCRB25+PMB25 | 100.6ab | 120.7a | 56.3a | 73.9b | 8.5ab | 13.5a | 19.6b | 63.3bc | 6.3a | 21.0ab | 1.07c | 4.73b |
| LSD (P≤0.05) | 3.82 | 7.48 | 3.19 | 4.69 | 1.35 | 2.05 | 2.35 | 4.37 | 1.26 | 2.16 | 0.168 | 0.93 |
UN200 = Urea N (UN) applied at 200 mg N kg-1 soil; UN100 = Urea N (UN) applied at 100 mg N kg-1 soil; WCRB30 = White clover residues derived biochar (WCRB) applied at 30 t ha-1; PMB30 = poultry manure derived biochar (WCRB) applied at 30 t ha-1; WCRB15+PMB15 = White clover residues biochar (WCRB) and poultry manure biochar applied at 15 t ha-1 (half) each; UN50+WCRB50 = urea N and white clover residues biochar applied at the proportion of 50:50; UN50+PMB50 = urea N and poultry manure biochar applied at the proportion of 50:50; UN50+WCRB25+ PMB25 = urea N, white clover residues and poultry manure biochars applied at the proportion of 50:25:25. Least significant difference (LSD) P ≤ 0.05 is for comparison of treatment means (within the columns), and the means followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other.