To reduce the high concentrations of heavy metals in agricultural soils, various available methods have been developed, including introduction of various zeolites, minerals, synthetic substances, and composts into the soil. In the recent years more attention was paid to biochar, which is capable to reduce the negative impact of various toxicants on the environment due to its high specific surface area. The ability of barley to assimilate nitrogen from the sod-podzolic loamy sand soil with the application of wood biochar and plant residues under stress conditions due to excessive amount of cadmium (10 times higher than the maximum allowed concentration for soils) was studied in a laboratory experiment. The study was carried out under controlled conditions in vessels with a volume of 2 liter. The experiment included 8 treatments: soil control, soil + biochar, soil + plant residues, and the combined application of biochar with plant residues, both with and without cadmium. Biochar and plant residues, which consisted of clover and timothy in equal proportions, were introduced into the vessels at the rate of 3 g kg-1 of dry soil. Cadmium was added to the soil at a dose of 50 mg kg-1. Measurements of ammonium, nitrate-nitrogen, and cadmium content in the soil and barley were carried out by conventional methods. The experimental results showed a low resistance of barley to cadmium in the control treatment, while the combined application of biochar with plant residues contributed to the 100% resistance of plants to the metal. The introduction of biochar, both with or without plant residues, reduced the concentration and removal of cadmium by barley plants, but plant residues without biochar did not change the concentration of cadmium and sharply increased the removal of cadmium with the plant biomass. In general, the use of biochar in combination with legume-cereal residues, resulted in complete illimination of cadmium toxic effect on mineralization processes, nitrogen assimilation, plants, the biomass formation.