The beneficial role of biochar is evident in most of infertile soils, however this is argued that increment in crop yield owing to biochar application does not always achieve in cultivated/fertile soils. The nutrient biochar believed to enhance crop yield and soil fertility than structural biochar that may offset the positive effect of chemical fertilizer on crop performance but improves soil structural properties. Therefore, we investigated the effect of biochars [produced from nutrient rich feedstocks like poultry manure (PMB) and farmyard manure (FMB) and structural feedstocks such as wood chips (WCB) and kitchen waste (KWB)], and chemical fertilizers (CF) when applied alone or in combination on soil chemical properties, wheat growth, yield and nitrogen uptake in a cultivated clay loam soil. Sole biochar treatments increased the total carbon and mineral nitrogen content that were 21 and 106% higher, respectively compared to control after 128days (P<0.001). Contrarily, sole biochars application did not increase wheat biological yield and N uptake compared to control (P>0.05) except PMB, the nutrient biochar (P<0.05). Compared to control, grain yield was 6 and 12% lower in WCB and FMB, respectively but not differed from KWB, PMB or WCB-CF. Conversely, co-application of biochars and CF treatments increased crop biological yield but the increment was the highest in nutrient biochars FMB or PMB (29 or 26%), than structural biochars WCB and KWB (15 and 13%), respectively (P<0.05). For N uptake, this increment varies between 16 and 27% and again nutrient biochar has significantly higher N uptake than structural biochars. Hence, nutrient biochars (i.e. PMB) benefited the soil fertility and crop productivity more than structural biochars. Therefore, for immediate crop benefits, it is recommended to use nutrient biochar alone or in combination with chemical fertilizer. Such practice will improve crop performance and the quality of cultivated soil.

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Livestock in rainfed area of Pothwar often faces green fodder scarcity during winter months and thus has to survive on cereal residues of previous crops such as wheat straw, summer sorghum, corn stalk etc. which are not rich source of protein and digestible nutrients. The basic objective of this experiment is to produce more fodder for livestock production and food for community. The investigations were carried out to evaluate the yield and quality of oat (Avena sativa L.), barely (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) in pure stands as well as in mixture of 50:50 ratios with common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) under rainfed conditions of Pothowar to address the problem of nutritious green fodder for livestock in the region. From the result of this study, it is evident that oatvetch mixture performed better under rainfed conditions of Pothowar in terms of green and dry matter yield. By this mixture, 37.97 tons ha-1 green and 9.28 ton ha-1 dry matter yield were obtained which are 20 % higher than the pure stand of oat respectively. Similarly, it was found that overall oat + vetch, mixture yielded 63% and 78% higher dry matter than barley + vetch and wheat-vetch mixtures, respectively. Cereal + vetch mixture also produced higher crude protein content than their respective pure stands. Oats-vetch, barley + vetch and wheat + vetch resulted in 11.31%, 7.04% and 5.80% higher crude protein contents than their cereal pure stands respectively. With the advancement of growth stage, green fodder yield increased progressively while reverse was observed for qualitative traits. Maximum green fodder yield was obtained at 50% heading stage while maximum crude protein content was achieved at tillering stage in this study. On the basis of these field qualitative and quantitative investigations, cereal + vetch mixture is recommended for both obtaining higher tonnage and nutritious fodder under the rainfed conditions of Pothowar.