Influence of Subsurface Drip Fertigation on Yield and Quality of Sugarcane Kombali Gururaj1,*, Sheshadri T.1, Nagaraju1, Thimmegowda M. N.1, Basavaraja P. K., Mallikarjuna G. B. 1Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru-65 *email: rajck.kakol@gmail.com
Online published on 2 January, 2017. Abstract Field experiment was conducted at Zonal Agriculture Research Station, V.C. Farm, Mandya during 2014–15 to know the effect of drip fertigation on cane yield and juice quality of sugarcane. The experiment was laid out in splitplot design with three replications comprising of three levels of irrigation in main plots viz., Sub-surface drip irrigation at 75% Epan, sub-surface drip irrigation at 100% Epan and furrow irrigation in wider row planting and four levels of fertilizers in sub plots viz.,. 125, 100, 75 and 50 per cent of recommended dose of fertilizer, respectively. Results indicated that subsurface drip irrigation at 100% pan evaporation (Epan) recorded significantly higher cane yield (219 t ha−1) and juice quality parameters viz., juice extraction (%), brix (%), pol (%), purity (%), CCS (%) and sugar (t ha−1) yield (65.71, 21.15, 20.09, 95.18, 14.36 and 31.48, respectively) which were on par with subsurface drip fertigation at 75% Epan. Application of fertilizers @ 125 per cent of RDF recorded significantly higher cane and sugar yield (216 and 30.40 t ha−1, respectively). Similarly, significantly higher cane and sugar yield (248 and 35.19 t ha−1, respectively) were observed in subsurface drip fertigation at 100% Epan and 125% RDF. Fertilizer levels and its interaction with irrigation levels did not vary other quality parameters significantly. Top Keywords Subsurface Drip Fertigation, Yield, Quality, Sugarcane. Top |