Keywords (Extracted from title, table of contents and
abstract of thesis)
Trench, Manufacturing, Canes,
Response, Iron, Various, Industry, Treatments, Spacings, Zinc,
Marginal, Planted, Sugarcane, Grown, Application, Foliar |
|
Abstract
Sugarcane is a major
cash crop of Pakistan which not only provides main stay to sugar
industry but also raw material to many allied industries for alcohol
and chip board manufacturing and a source of employment directly or
indirectly to more than four million peoples of Pakistan (Naqvi,
2005). Average stripped cane yield of the country is 48.63 t ha-1
(Govt. of Pakistan, 2009); which is lower than the world production
of 65.20 t ha-1 (FAO Stat., 2005). Conventional method of planting,
poor management practices and imbalanced nutrient management are the
major components of sugarcane agrotechnology responsible for low
cane and sugar yield production at farmer fields.Trench planting is
considered more convenient and efficient planting system as it saves
irrigation water and reduces lodging due to easy inter-culture and
earthing up operations (Malik et al., 1996). Pakistani soils pH is
high which have resulted antagonistic interaction of Zn and Fe with
other nutrients and hence Zn and Fe availability is less to plants.
A field trial was conducted for two years during spring 2007-08 and
2008-09 at PARS, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, to
evaluate the response of trench spacings regarding growth,
development and radiation interception and to determine the most
favorable dose of Zn and Fe for maximum yield and quality production
of sugarcane. The treatments comprised; trench spacing (75, 90 and
120 cm apart) and foliar treatments as check, Zn (2.5, 5 and 7.5 Kg
ha-1) and Fe (5, 10 and 15 Kg ha-1). Different trench spacings and
levels of zinc and iron significantly affected all the quantitative
and physiological parameters of sugarcane crop except tillers,
millable canes, NAR and harvest index. As regards quality
parameters, trench spacing did not significantly affect brix%, juice
purity%, juice% and bagasse%, while different doses of Zn+Fe
significantly affected all the qualitative traits except brix%. Crop
planted at 120 cm spaced trenches and application of Zn+Fe @
5.0+10.0 Kg ha-1 gave maximum stripped cane yield of 104.57 & 106.38
t ha-1, respectively in 2007-08 and 112.78 & 110.38 t ha-1 during
2008-09. Maximum sugar yield (14.92 & 15.02 t ha-1) was measured by
growing crop at 120 cm apart trenches and fertilized @ 5+10 Kg ha-1
of Zn+Fe, respectively during 2007-08 and 15.65 & 14.84 t ha-1 in
the later year. Cumulative intercepted PAR increased with increase
in trench spacing with linear trend, while in quadratic manner with
the application of Zn+Fe. Higher benefit cost ratio of 1.52 and 1.75
during 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively was achieved with foliar
application of Zn+Fe @ 5+10 kg ha-1 on sugarcane crop sown at 120 cm
apart trenches. Maximum marginal rate of return (463 and 463 %) was
attained in crop grown at 120 cm spaced trenches with and without
foliar application of zinc and iron during 2007-08, while in
2008-09, crop planted at 120 cm apart trenches without foliar
application of Zn and Fe gave maximum marginal rate of return
(525%). On an average, better NUEA of 884.0 and 707.7 Kg Kg-1 of
Zn+Fe was recorded with the application of Zn+Fe @ 5+10 Kg ha-1 and
2.5+5 Kg Zn+Fe ha-1, respectively. NUEP was also higher (109.8 kg
g-1 of Zn+Fe) in the crop fertilized @ 5+10 Kg Zn+Fe ha-1 during
2007-08. On the basis of marginal rate of return it is recommended
that the resource poor sugarcane growers of central Punjab
(Pakistan) should grow sugarcane at 120 cm apart trenches without
application of zinc and iron, while the progressive farmers may
fertilize their crops with foliar application of Zn+Fe (5+10 kg
ha-1) to get maximum net field benefits. |
