## 1 Introduction
It is important to take into account that the effects of biochar on soil vary widely. While most studies report positive effects of biochar on soils and crops, there are also others where the effects have been null or negative [26; 27]. Several studies have confirmed that infertile, acidic, and coarse-textured soils are more responsive to alkaline biochar addition [16; 28; 29]. Thanks to porous biochar structure, soil physical characteristics improve (BD, porosity, aggregate stability, WHC, plant available water, and infiltration rate) [7; 16; 30]. Due to the biochar liming effect, pH increases, which favors alkaline nutrient retention (Na, K, Mg, and P) by increasing the negative charges in the soil (i.e., cation exchange capacity, CEC) [16; 20; 28]. Consequently, crop productivity raises between 10 and 13% with a median application rate of biochar of 15 Mg-ha\({}^{-1}\)[31; 32]. Nevertheless, some studies have not found beneficial effects on physical properties related to water retention and porosity by biochar addition to sandy soils [29; 33]. [PERSON] et al. [29] attributed this to the hydrophobicity of biochar used in their study. This highlights the importance of selecting or designing biochar characteristics according to soil needs. There is also enough evidence that in temperate soils, biochar has not significantly influenced soil quality [16; 29; 31]. It is important to take into account that, in general, temperate soils are fertile with a pH close to neutrality [31]. Since pH is not a limiting condition in these soils, the liming effect of biochar is not evident or even often is ignored in the experimental design [16; 31]. Besides, the abundance of nutrients in the soil could mask both the addition and immobilization of nutrients by biochar. However, some researchers have found beneficial effects of biochar on physical characteristics of temperate soils with significant impact. [31]. For example, a decrease in BD enhances seed germination, root growth, and mycorrhizal nutrient mining and could reduce tillage costs [34; 35]. The median rate of biochar application on temperate soils is 30 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)[31], double that of tropical soils. Unlike tropical and temperate soils, the effect of biochar in arid and semi-arid soils has hardly been studied [36]. Some researchers have reported amelioration in BD, WHC, organic matter content (OM), pH, CEC in these soils with biochar additions of 8 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)[36], 45 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)[37], \(\geq\)39.5 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)[38], and 135 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\)[39]. [PERSON] et al. [40] found that adding 27 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\) of biochar reduced the leaching of some nutrients (Ca, Mg, NO\({}_{3-}\)) and increased the total carbon content in two aridisols. [PERSON] et al. [41] evaluated activated biochar applications of 12, 24, and 120 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\) on the abundance of genes involved in N cycling. They found that with 120 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\), genes involved in nitrogen fixation and denitrification increased significantly. In the previous studies, the researchers agreed that the acid and neutral biochars, obtained at lower temperatures (250-400 \({}^{\circ}\)C), presented better performance, which is understandable due to the alkaline pH of soils studied [36; 39; 40]. Another characteristic shared by the soils of the previous studies is their calcareous nature, which gives them a high buffering capacity that makes it difficult to correct their pH by biochar addition; only small decreases with respect to unamended soils were observed in some studies [36; 39; 41]. However, the high application rates used in most of the studies earlier mentioned suggest the need to investigate with other biochars or with periodic applications. The fact that biomass is scarce in drylands should betaken into account, so the production and use of biochar must be sustainable. Hidalgo (Mexico) is a mining state with a growing industry, where livestock and agriculture are also important economic activities [42].