Abstract
Sugarcane is one of the major important sugar yielding crops in Bangladesh. As an exhaustive crop, sugarcane removes a huge amount of plant nutrients from the soil. However, the combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers can be a good approach to deal with nutrient depletion and promote sustainable crop production as well as improve soil health. Therefore, an attempt was made to identify the most fruitful and profitable integrated nutrient management on the aspects of growth, yield and quality of sugarcane in two consecutive growing seasons. Seven treatments: T1 = Control, T2 = 165:55:120:30:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1, T3 = Poultry Litter (PL) at 5 t ha−1 + 95:51:87:9:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1, T4 = Cow Dung (CD) at 15 t ha−1 + 36:52:60:17:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1, T5 = Press Mud (PM) at 15 t ha−1 + 10:50:43:0:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1, T6 = Mustard Oil Cake (MOC) at 0.5 t ha−1 + 140:54:115:25:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1 and T7 = GM (Green Manure) at 5 t ha−1 + 140:53:100:28:10:2.5:4 kg N:P:K:S:Mg:Zn:B ha−1 were used in this experiment. Two years data showed that treatment T3 produced the maximum amount of tillers, total dry matter yield, millable sugarcane, cane yield and sugar yield, followed by the T4 treatment. The highest stalk heights were recorded in the T3 treatment, which was statistically similar to all other treatments except T1 and T2. The juice quality parameters viz., brix and pol in cane were found significant in treatment T3 while the highest purity was obtained in the T7 treatment. All the data of Jaggery (goor) quality parameters, the highest sucrose content, color transmittance, Jaggery (goor) recovery and the lowest ash content of Jaggery (goor) were observed in the T3 treatment, which was statistically similar to the T4 treatment in both seasons. The highest cost of production was obtained from the T6 treatment while the highest gross return, net return and BCR were recorded in the T3 treatment. No significant changes were found in one cycle of sugarcane in initial and post-harvest soil characteristics viz., pH, organic carbon, total N, and available P, K and S contents due to integrated use of different fertilizer packages. From the experimental findings, it was concluded that treatment T3 followed by T4 treatment would be the better productive and profitable integrated nutrient management technology for ensuring higher yields and quality of sugarcane without soil fertility degradation in the High Ganges River Floodplain soils.
Highlights
Sugarcane is one of the most important sugar and Jaggery producing crop in Bangladesh
Average cane yield in Bangladesh is around 50.0 t ha−1, which is quite low in comparison with many other sugarcanegrowing countries
3.1.2 Leaf Area Index (LAI) In both seasons, the leaf area index of sugarcane at 240 days after transplanting (DAT) varied significantly due to different integrated fertilizer management treatments in both years
Summary
Sugarcane is one of the most important sugar and Jaggery (goor) producing crop in Bangladesh. It provides a rich source of sucrose, alcohol and organic matter waste which is utilized as fertilizer. In Bangladesh, on an average, 4.5 million metric tons of sugarcane are produced annually from 0.11 million hectares of land. The crop is grown mainly under rain-fed upland conditions Most soils in this country are low in organic matter (OM) generally containing less than 1.5% while 2.5–3.0% OM is necessary for a sustainable crop production [3]. Due to the continuous application of only chemical fertilizers and plant protection chemicals in agriculture, soils have been badly degraded. The integrated nutrient management (INM) approach improves and sustains soil fertility and provides a sound basis for crop production systems to meet the changing needs through optimization of the benefits from all possible sources of plant nutrients in an integrated manner [8]
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