SILICON NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT IN SUGARCANE

摘要

Attempts were made to examine the response of sugarcane to levels and sources of silicon in three consecutive seasons with sugarcane variety Co86032 in medium deep black soils in Maharashtra state. In first experiment silicon was applied @ 0, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 kg ha~(-1) as a basal dose through calcium silicate with recommended levels of farm yard manure and NPK. The pooled results revealed that the sugarcane yield was significantly increased at Si @ 400 kg ha~(-1) (142.8 t ha~(-1)) over control (124.5 t ha~(-1)) and remained on par with increased levels of silicon. The cane juice quality was not affected by silicon application. However, commercial cane sugar yield at 400 kg Si ha~(-1) level increased by 2.8 t ha~(-1) over control due to increased cane yield. Sheath moisture, P content in soil and leaf blade increased under silicon applied plots. In succession of these experiments, the level of silicon @ 400 kg ha~(-1) was tried with silicon sources viz. thermal power station fly ash, pond ash, bagasse ash and calcium silicate. The application of fly ash and bagasse ash increased the cane yield by 23.7 t ha~(-1) and 26.1 t ha~(-1), respectively over control and found equally beneficial as calcium silicate. The integrated results of both experiments concluded that only one application of silicon @ 400 kg ha~(-1) through pond ash/fly ash or bagasse ash or calcium silicate as a basal dose for plant cane and its two successive ratoon crops is beneficial.