Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

USE EFFICIENCY OF NPK BRIQUETTE IN SUGARCANE

N.B. More , S.U. Deshmukh , U. K. Bhoye and S. S. Kolape

Abstract

The application of 100 per cent recommended dose of NPK fertilizer through briquette recorded significantly higher yields of cane (140.52 t ha -1 ) and commercial cane sugar (19.75 t ha -1 ). Significantly higher number of millable canes per hectare (103.28 ‘000’ ha -1 ) were also recorded by the100 per cent recommended dose of NPK fertilizer through briquette , where as it was on par with application of 100 per cent recommended dose of NPK through straight fertilizer and 75 per cent recommended dose of NPK through briquette. The fertilizer applied through non briquette form @ 100 per cent NPK RD either by conventional or by crow bar methods and fertilizer applied through briquette @ 75 per cent NPK RD by crow bar found equally effective in terms of cane and commercial cane sugar yields indicating the 25 per cent saving of recommended dose of NPK fertilizer for sugarcane. The differences in case of per cent commercial cane sugar due to influence of different treatments were found non significant. The application of briquette maintained higher level of nutrient status of N, P and K in soil at harvest. In general the per cent use efficiency of briquette form of fertilizer is higher than the non briquette form of fertilizer for sugarcane.