Table 3.

Effect of P. hysterophorus biochar amounts (n = 6) and years (n = 2) on the soil texture and SMC of acidic soils (mean ± SD).

Soil	Soil sample	Parthenium biochar rates						LSD
Parameters	Years	PB0% 0 t/ha	PB5.33% 12.5 t/ha	PB8.0% 16 t/ha	PB10.67% 19.5 t/ha	PB13.3% 23 t/ha	PB 16% 26.5 t/ha
Sand	First year	60.61 ± 0.6a∗	57.6 ± 0.6c	58.9 ± 0.6bc	57.6 ± 1.1c	57.6 ± 0.5c	59.6 ± 0.6a	3.0
	Second year	61.9 ± 1.1a∗	57.3 ± 1.0bc	57.3 ± 1.0bc	56.9 ± 0.6bc	56.6 ± 0.6c	58.6 ± 0.6b	0.77
	Overall	61.3 ± 1.0a∗	57.5 ± 0.7c	58.1 ± 1.1dc	57.3 ± 0.8c	57.1 ± 0.7c	58.1 ± 0.9b	0.42
Clay	First year	20.2 ± 0.00c	23.5 ± 0.6a∗	22.8 ± 1.1ab	21.5 ± 1.1bc	22.2 ± 0.00ab	20.5 ± 0.6c	3.0
	Second year	21.2 ± 1.0c	22.5 ± 0.6bc	23.2 ± 1.0ab∗∗	23.2 ± 1.0ab∗∗	22.8 ± 0.6ab	20.8 ± 1.1c	2.3
	Overall	20.6 ± 0.8b	23.0 ± 0.7a∗	23.0 ± 0.9a∗	22.3 ± 1.3a	22.5 ± 0.5a	20.67 ± 0.8b	2.3
Silt	First year	19.2 ± 0.6	18.9 ± 0.6	18.5 ± 2.0	20.9 ± 2.3	20.2 ± 0.6	19.9 ± 1.1	NS
	Second year	17.2 ± 1.1b	20.2 ± 0.6a	20.2 ± 1.5a	19.9 ± 1.1a	20.5 ± 0.00a∗∗	20.5 ± 0.0a∗∗	0.77
	Overall	18.2 ± 1.3b	19.5 ± 0.9ab	19.4 ± 1.8ab	20.4 ± 1.7a	20.4 ± 0.4a	20.5 ± 0.0a∗∗	2.2
% SMC	First year	15.8 ± 0.3e	17.5 ± 0.4cd	18.99 ± 0.2bc	19.4 ± 0.8b	20.8 ± 0.8a	21.02 ± 0.4a∗	1.98
	Second year	15.1 ± 0.2d	17.99 ± 0.3c	18.8 ± 0.9c	20.1 ± 0.6b	20.99 ± 0.4ab	21.9 ± 0.1a∗	2.61
	Overall	15.5 ± 0.5e	17.7 ± 0.4d	19.4 ± 0.8c	19.8 ± 0.8b	20.9 ± 0.6a	21.6 ± 0.5a∗	1.82

Within rows, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different (p > 0.05); ^∗significant at p ≤ 0.01; ^∗∗significant at p ≤ 0.05; NS, not significant; LSD, least significant difference; % SMC, percent soil moisture content; PB; parthenium biochar; and SD, standard deviation.