Role of potassium in sugarcane for improving yield and farmers’ income
2022
Bhatt, Rajan
unknown. Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. complex) is a commercially important crop that produces jaggery and khandsari. It is grown on 23.8 million hectares worldwide, producing 1685 million tons of cane with an average yield of 71 t ha-1, with Brazil and India producing half of the crop, followed by other countries. Sugarcane was cultivated in 91 thousand hectares in Punjab, with an average cane yield of 80.2 t ha-1 and a sugar recovery of 9.59 percent, which was lower than in adjacent states. Several variables have been proposed, with potash skipping in poor soils being one of the most important. Canes remove 207kg N, 30kg P2O5, and 233kg K2O from the soil to achieve a yield potential of 100 t ha-1, and fertilizer must be fed back in to reclaim these nutrients. But in Punjab for sugarcane, to date, there are no K fertilizer recommendations even for the deficient soils. The present study was carried out in split plots design with irrigation viz. irrigated and water-stressed plots in main while Potash doses viz. o, 40, 80 and 120 kg K2O ha-1 in the subplots during 2019-20 (plant season) and 2020-21 (ratoon season). This two-year study concluded that for both plant and ratoon season under both irrigated and water-stressed conditions, 80 kg K2O is the best and sustainable dose of potash which further enhances growth, yield, quality of sugarcane, and finally livelihoods of the cane farmers in the region.
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