. 2018 Oct 3;8:14743. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33040-7

Table 2.

Mean values of various plant growth parameters for different saline water irrigation regimes and biochar amendments during the 2014 and 2015 tomato growing seasons.

Irrigation regime	Biochar treatment	FAGB (g)		DAGB (g)		FBGB (g)		DBGB (g)		LRWC (%)
Irrigation regime	Biochar treatment	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015	2014	2015
I₀	B₁	240.2^aD	302.9^aD	127.5^aD	190.5^aD	25.40^aC		6.32^aB		92.72^aD	94.00^aC
	B₂	264.3^aC	327.3^aC	146.6^aC	153.8^aC	26.45^aC	ND	6.33^aB	ND	93.80^aC	95.08^aB
	B₃	289.7^aB	352.7^aB	156.7^aB	219.7^aB	27.88^aB		7.22^aA		94.12^aB	95.07^aB
	B₄	307.3^aA	383.6^aA	165.7^aA	228.7^aA	29.75^aA		7.58^aA		95.48^aA	96.10^aA
I₁	B₁	181.6^bD	299.9^bD	125.2^bD	188.2^bD	22.09^bD		6.18^bC		91.52^bC	92.14^bC
	B₂	248.0^bC	331.0^bC	125.5^bC	199.5^bC	25.14^bC	ND	6.88^bB	ND	92.04^bB	92.99^bB
	B₃	285.5^bB	348.5^bB	133.8^bB	192.9^bB	25.11^bC		6.71^bB		92.59^bB	94.54^bB
	B₄	300.6^bA	372.3^bA	146.1^bA	209.1^bA	27.65^bA		6.92^bA		94.29^bA	95.24^bA
I₂	B₁	172.0^cD	251.5^cD	57.49^cD	143.5^cD	20.90^cD		5.70^cB		90.61^bC	90.90^cC
	B₂	181.6^cC	258.0^cC	61.53^cC	147.5^cC	22.80^cC		6.14^cB		91.57^bB	92.47^cB
	B₃	192.3^cB	287.6^cA	70.69^cB	163.7^cB	24.67^cA	ND	6.34^cA	ND	92.02^bB	92.64^cA
	B₄	239.9^cA	286.9^cB	67.78^cA	209.6^cA	24.20^cA		6.92^cA		92.89^bA	93.51^cA
Biochar		***	***	***	***	***	ND	*	ND	**	***
Salinity		**	***	**	***	***	ND	**	ND	**	***
Interaction		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ND	ns	ND	ns	ns

Note: fresh above- ground biomass (FAGB), dry above- ground biomass (DAGB), fresh below- ground biomass (FBGB), dry below- ground biomass (DBGB), and leaf relative water content (LRWC). In each column, different uppercase and lowercase letters indicate a significant difference among the biochar application rates and irrigation salinity levels, respectively, at P < 0.05 (Least significant difference, LSD); Analysis of variance (ANOVA): ns, not significant; *, **, and ***, denote significance at P ≤ 0.05, P ≤ 0.01, and P ≤ 0.001, respectively. ND, no data. B₁, B₂, B₃ and B₄ represent mixtures of soil with 0%, 2%, 4% and 8% of biochar by mass. I₀, I₁ and I₂ represent irrigation water salinity of tap water, 1 and 3 dS m⁻¹.