Table 4. Effect of biochars applied alone or mixed with N fertilizer on shoot and root characteristics of wheat 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 | Heading stage | Vegetative stage | heading stage | Vegetative stage | Heading stage | Vegetative stage | Heading stage | Vegetative stage | Heading stage | Vegetative stage | Heading stage | |
| Control | 39.6e | 72.8d | 5.2e | 5.4f | 1.17d | 2.7e | 9.7e | 11.8 e | 0.24 e | 0.40f | 0.17e | 0.22d |
| UN200 | 55.1cd | 88.2bc | 15.5d | 27.3e | 3.70b | 15.5d | 18.2a | 19.3 ab | 0.42 d | 1.67d | 0.53ab | 0.67b |
| UN100 | 54.2d | 80.2cd | 11.0d | 16.8e | 1.93d | 6.1e | 15.5bc | 15.5 d | 0.37 d | 0.93e | 0.34d | 0.45c |
| WCRB30 | 53.8d | 81.0cd | 7.3c | 16.4d | 1.97c | 6.0d | 15.6bc | 18.0bc | 1.02 c | 3.10bc | 0.45bc | 0.69b |
| PMB30 | 68.9a | 86.5bc | 13.4b | 20.4c | 2.07c | 9.0c | 13.4d | 15.7cd | 1.28 b | 2.80c | 0.58a | 0.68b |
| WCRB15+PMB15 | 51.6d | 86.1bc | 12.4b | 20.3c | 2.20c | 8.9c | 13.4d | 18.9b | 1.25 b | 3.53a | 0.42cd | 1.10a |
| UN50+WCRB50 | 62.2b | 91.2ab | 15.7a | 24.8b | 3.50ab | 10.6b | 14.4cd | 21.7a | 1.42 a | 3.27ab | 0.58a | 1.15a |
| UN50+PMB50 | 64.8ab | 98.6a | 16.7a | 29.2a | 3.73a | 14.6a | 16.7ab | 17.6bcd | 1.28 b | 3.23ab | 0.56a | 1.20a |
| UN50+WCRB25+ PMB25 | 60.8bc | 84.9bc | 13.6b | 27.9ab | 3.67a | 11.6b | 15.8bc | 16.3cd | 1.10 c | 3.37ab | 0.57a | 1.21a |
| LSD (P≤0.05) | 5.81 | 9.14 | 1.43 | 3.32 | 0.40 | 1.36 | 1.88 | 2.46 | 0.079 | 1.36 | 0.103 | 0.165 |
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.