ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF SPENTWASH APPLICATION (TREATED) ON POTASSIUM FRACTIONS IN CHROMIC HAPLUSTERTS AND SUGARCANE YIELD

摘要

A field experiment on sugarcane was conducted with graded levels of treated spentwash viz., 62.5, 125, 187.5, 250 and 312.5 m~3 ha~(-1) and K fertilization (150, 112.5, 75, 37.5 and 0 kg ha~(-1)). The results revealed that the varying levels of treated spentwash and graded levels of fertilizer K exhibited a positive impact on sugarcane crop and soil properties. Though the application of varying levels of spentwash had no perceptible influence on cane juice qualities, it showed some positive effects in improving the juice qualities and Commercial Cane Sugar percentage as compared to the control (no spentwash application). The depletion of soil K was observed in the absence of adequate K fertilization. There was an increase in all the K fractions in the post harvest soil with increased levels of spentwash application. Thus it is evident from the optimisation of spentwash levels that application of 200 m~3 ha~(-1) of spentwash alone will be (without K application) sufficient to produce the highest cane yield of plant and ratoon of sugarcane crops.