This could also account for the ele

This could also account for the elevated SOMlevel followed by the biochar addition (Table 3). Herein, the biochar-mediated shifts in bacterial community may affect soil C cycling through enhancing soil C storage pathways (Whitman et al. 2016). These results are consistent with the higher abundances of the classes Alphaproteobacteria and Cytophagia in the soils amended with biochar than those without biochar (Table S4), which tended to directly utilize labile C (e.g. plant residue and root exudates) (Fierer et al. 2012). The results suggested that biochar additions could supply labile C resources for soil microbes to favour the bestadapted groups to thrive (Farrell et al. 2013). Similarly, the promoted phyla Proteobacteria in the biochar-amended rhizosphere soils (Fig. 5), classified as ‘copiotrophic’ bacteria with high growth rates under nutrient-rich conditions (Trivedi et al. 2013), implied that the more nutrients localized in the root zones for plant growth.