Soil is the most important source and an abode for many nutrients and microflora. Due to rapid depletion of agricultural areas and soil quality by means of ever-increasing population and an excessive addition of chemical fertilizers, a rehabilitated attention is a need of the hour to maintain sustainable approaches in agricultural crop production. Biochar is the solid, carbon-rich material obtained by pyrolysis using different biomasses. It has been widely documented in previous studies that, the crop growth and yield can be increased by using biochar. This chapter exclusively summarizes the properties of biochar, its interaction with soil microflora, and its role in plant growth promotion when added to the soil.

Apart from two major components nitrogen and phosphorous, potassium is the third essential macronutrient required for the growth and metabolism of plant, and its deficiency in plants causes poorly developed roots,

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As India is the second‐largest producer of sugarcane in the world, a huge amount of biodegradable by‐product waste, pressmud, is produced every year, and is a promising source of nutrients. Here, an attempt is made to utilize pressmud as carrier for bioinoculants for enhancing crop productivity. The field experiments are set up on finger millet crop using Aspergillus niger (K7) as fungal inoculant and pressmud as carrier. Four treatment combinations, viz., control, K7 strain, pressmud, and K7 strain+pressmud, in soil are studied. The results indicate that the soil nutrients such as N, P, and K increase by 30–50% after the experiment. The pressmud supports up to 5 × 106 fungal spores and the inoculum is viable until the end of 6 months. Growth and yield parameters are influenced positively and result in better height and weight of plants, a higher number of fingers, and improved P uptake. The combination of A. niger (K7) and pressmud is found to be the best. Shoot and root lengths increase by 54% and 96%, respectively, at the time of harvest over control. Number of fingers and weight of grains/plant increase by 77% and 70%, respectively, at 130 days after sowing. It can be concluded that the use of pressmud with microbial inoculant may be an economically viable technology in organic farming and also in its disposal.