Maintaining an appropriate level of microbial activity, soil organic carbon and biological cycling of nutrients is crucial to the success of any soil management in dryland agriculture. We characterized biochar from five different agriculture feed stock materials like, maize stover, cotton stalk, Prosopis wood, rice husk and redgram stalks for their suitability as soil amendments under dryland agriculture. The characterization of biochar well revealed that there is a scope for using biochar from crop wastes as a organic amendment as well as carbon sequestrant under dryland agriculture by retaining high organic carbon, microbial activity and surface area thereby improving nutrient and water holding capacity of soils under dryland agriculture eco system. Among the different biochar materials applied in black soil, Prosopis biochar @ 30 t /ha significantly increased soil organic carbon along with enhanced microbial activity. This paper presents a preliminary investigation on effect of biochar application on soil microbial activity thereby sequestering soil carbon for their suitability under dryland agricultural crops.