Response of Sugarcane to Varying Nitrogen Rate and Application Timings Under Semi-Arid Climate

Abstract

To enhance crop yields, nitrogen is one of essential basic nutritional elements that enable any plant to withstand in stressful conditions. An experiment was carried out to investigate the impact of N rates and its application timings on growth, development and sugarcane yield at farm area of Sugarcane Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan for two consecutive crop seasons (spring 2014 and 2015). Four Nitrogen (N) rates viz.170, 227, 284 and 341 kg ha-1were applied at four different application schedules i.e. T1= 45-75-90 days after planting (DAP); T2= 45-75-90-120 DAP;T3= 45-75-90-120-150 DAP and T4= 45-75-90-120-150-180 DAP, in RCBD having three replications. The results revealed that the treatments significantly affected quantitative traits like tillers plant-1, cane girth, millable count, cane and sugar yield and growth parameters like leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), seasonal total dry matter accumulation (TDM) and seasonal crop growth rate (CGR). Interactive effect of treatments was also significant for cane girth, number of millable canes and LAD. Treatments did not affect cane length significantly during the course of study. Growth traits viz. LAI, LAD and CGR showed improvement by higher N application and the highest values were observed when N was applied late in the season in six splits. A close positive linear relationship was noticed between cane yield and dose & time of N application. It may be concluded from the present study that splitting of nitrogen till 180 days after planting at higher rates (upto 341 kg ha-1) can improve cane and sugar yield of spring planted sugarcane crop under semi-arid climatic conditions