Seasonal drought usually result in reduction on fluecured tobacco yield.How to enhance the soil water retention to get the stable tobacco yield in Yunnan province need to be addressed.The effect of tobacco stalk biochar on the soil water retention in the typical tobaccogrowing soils was studied to provide the basis for the promotion and application of biochar in the fluecured tobacco production in Yunnan province.The pot experiment was carried out in Maqiao research base of Yunnan Yuxi Tobacco Company.Five different dosages of biochar(0%，1%，4%，7%，11% dry soil weight）by hole application were designed to analyze the soil water retention in five typical tobaccogrowing soil types,including yellowred soil（YR)，yellowbrown soil（YB），lateriticred soil（LR），paddy soil（PD）and purple soil（PE）.The results showed that the soil water retention in these five soils types were significantly improved by biochar application,and the watering periods were 1~5 days longer than that of their controls.However,tobacco yields varied with soil types.In detail,at 1%~11% application rate,the soil water retention was decreased as biochar increased in YR,and the total irrigation amount in tobacco growing period by 1% biochar application rate was significantly reduced by 59.5% compared to the control,similarly,the average decline rate of soil water content significantly decreased by 50.4%,and water use efficiency significantly increased by 32.3%.However,the tobacco yield was cut down to 37.9%.In YB,the soil water retention was increased as biochar increased.At the best application rate of 11%,the total irrigation amount significantly reduced by 41.3%,water use efficiency significantly enhanced by 93.3%,and no significant difference in yields compared to the control.By the increased use of biochar,the soil water retention of LR was increased and then decreased.And at the best application rate of 4%,fluecured tobacco yield and water use efficiency were increased by 46.2% and 68.8%，respectively.Simultaneously,with the application rate increased,the soil water retention was increased and then decreased in PD and PE.At the best application rate of 7%,the fluecured tobacco yield were increased by 17.0% and 55.6%，and the total irrigation water decreased by 40.3% and 26.8%,the average decline rate of soil water content decreased by 37.4% and 36.5%,water use efficiency remarkably enhanced by 94.4% and 121.7%,respectively,as compared with the related controls.In summary,tobacco stalk biochar obviously enhanced the soil water retention of the typical tobaccoplanting soils in Yunnan province,while the optimum application rates varied with the soil types.