Effect of foliar application of NPK on sugarcane yield and its parameters

Abstract

Sugarcane is important cash crop of India as well as Haryana. Haryana is 7th largest producer of sugarcane in the country. In India sugarcane is cultivated all over the country from latitude 80 N to 330 N, except cold hilly areas like Kashmir valley, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. The experiment was conducted at Regional Research Station, Uchani (Karnal) of CCS Haryana Agricultural University. The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of foliar application of NPK on cane yield, yield attributes (NMC (number of millable canes) (000 ha-1), cane girth (cm), and cane length (m) of sugarcane variety CoH119. The experiment included 14 treatments of RDF (recommended dose of fertilizers) plus different combination of foliar spray which were used in RBD design of plot size of 6m x 6m. The highest number of cane yield (78.60 t/ha), NMC (92010/ha), cane length (1.51m) and cane girth (2.60cm) was found in RDF + 3% urea + 3% DAP + 3% MOP over control i.e. 67.8 t/ha, 82942/ha, 1.20m and 2.16cm and followed by the treatment RDF + 2% urea + 2% DAP + 2% MOP i.e. 78.00/ha, 91274/ha, 1.45m and 2.58 cm respectively. The results suggest a need for revision of already recommended NPK rates to get maximum output and its foliar application in sugarcane growing areas of India and possible other areas of the world.