Quantifying the influence of biochar on the physical and hydrological properties of dissimilar soils

•The effect of biochar is reported with respect to quantified soil variables.•Exceptionally this biochar study included eight dissimilar soils.•Biochar (100 t ha− 1) reduced bulk density by circa 4.2–19.2%.•Biochar (100 t ha− 1) improved FC by 1.3–42.2% and AWC by 0.3–48.4%.•Soil silt content negatively moderated the influence of biochar on FC and AWC.

Evidence suggests that biochar influences soil physical properties, especially soil hydrology, yet relatively little data exists on this topic, especially in relation to soil type or characteristics. This paper presents a novel attempt at analysing the influence of biochar (applied at 0.1, 0.5 and 2.5%) on the physical properties of soil with respect to quantified soil variables. Pot experiments were used to establish the effect of biochar on: bulk density, soil moisture content at field capacity and available water capacity. The aggregate effect of biochar across all soils was significant (P < 0.01) for all of the properties. With increasing amount of biochar, changes to bulk density, field capacity and available water were more pronounced. In the 2.5% treatments these changes ranged from − 4.2% to − 19.2%, 1.3% to 42.2% and 0.3% to 48.4%, respectively. Regression revealed that soil silt content negatively moderated the influence of biochar on field capacity and available water capacity. The results suggested that medium (20 t ha− 1) and high (100 t ha− 1) biochar applications could improve water-holding capacity (by up to 22%) and ameliorate compaction (by up to 15%) and that soils low in silt are likely to be more hydrologically responsive to biochar application.

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