Table 2.

Initial chemical characteristics of the crop residues used for the study.

Residue type	Total C (%)	Total N (%)	C/N ratio
Rice	26.86 ± 0.64c	0.617 ± 0.03c	43.59 ± 1.07d
Wheat	38.75 ± 0.16a	0.619 ± 0.02c	62.67 ± 2.62a
Maize	39.32 ± 0.05a	0.766 ± 0.03c	51.38 ± 1.65c
Mungbean	39.04 ± 0.09a	2.517 ± 0.01a	15.51 ± 0.01e
Rice + wheat†	32.81 ± 0.45b	0.62 ± 0.01c	53.13 ± 1.50c
Maize + wheat†	39.03 ± 0.40a	0.69 ± 0.01c	57.02 ± 1.04b
Rice + wheat + mungbean†	34.88 ± 0.52ab	1.25 ± 0.02b	40.59 ± 0.85d
Maize + wheat + mungbean†	39.03 ± 0.28a	1.30 ± 0.03b	43.19 ± 0.70d

^†The residues were mixed in equal proportions on a dry weight basis (values followed by different lower-case letters are significantly different at P < 0.05 according to Duncan’s multiple range tests for separation of mean). For all variables, n = 3 ± standard error of mean.