Effect of Drip Fertigation on Growth, Yield and Quality of Ratoon Sugarcane

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, V.C. Farm, Mandya, Karnataka, India during Kharif 2020-21. The effect of water-soluble fertilizers on performance of ratoon sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) as influenced by fertigation through surface drip irrigation was studied. The soil at the experimental site was red sandy loam with neutral pH (6.7), normal electrical conductivity (0.21dS m-1), medium organic carbon (5.2 g kg-1), low available nitrogen (275 kg ha-1), medium phosphorus (35 kg ha-1) and potassium content (280 kg ha-1). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications comprising seven treatments using VCF-0517 sugarcane mild late (12-14 months) maturing variety. The application of WSF at 125 per cent RDF (312.5:125:156:N:P2O5:K2O) through drip fertigation showed significantly superior growth and yield attributes viz., plant height (357.0 cm), no. of tillers clump-1 (15.0), internode length (16.67 cm), cane dry weight (54.8 t ha-1), millable canes (8.17 clump-1), cane length (341.67 cm), cane girth (3.30 cm), single cane weight (2.40 kg), number of internodes cane-1 (21.40) and cane yield (182.67 t ha-1). Also, superior juice qualities such as juice extraction percentage (70) and sugar yield (20.88 t ha-1) were recorded. The results clearly indicated application of water-soluble fertilizers at 125 per cent RDF through surface drip fertigation resulted in higher growth and yield of sugarcane due to enhanced water and nutrient use efficiency.