{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.04473219540906415, 'fraction_numerical': 0.04355503237198352, 'mean_word_length': 4.647840531561462, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Growth Analysis in Sugarcane Ratoon Crop as Influenced by Potassium Nutrition in Subtropical India

ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted for two cropping seasons during 2016–19 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, with the objectives to study the effect of i) K nutrition and variable sources of K on growth analysis of sugarcane ratoon crop, ii) the response of K on the photosynthetic rate of crop and iii) contribution of K on yield attributes, sugarcane, and sugar yields. Mean results of two cropping seasons indicated that the application of potassium brought forth a 12.08% improvement in tiller population over no K (107.3 thousand/ha). Potassium application through K2SO4 (SOP) showed the highest net rate of photosynthesis (15.28 µmol/m2/s) which was about 30.71% higher than the control. Among the various sources of K, SOP was found the best in improving sugarcane and sugar yields. Application of SOP resulted in 18.69% ratoon cane yield improvement over the control. Application of 75% K through K2SO4 resulted in a higher sugar yield (12.01 t/ha) which was 25.76% higher than the control (9.55 t/ha). Potassium ammonium sulfate (PAS) and murate of potash could not produce better results as compared to K2SO4. Potassium application through SOP showed the highest net rate of photosynthesis (15.28 µmol/m2/s) during the grand growth phase. Application of 50.4 kg K/ha (75% more than recommended) through K2SO4 increased 18.69% sugarcane (106.7 t/ha) and 25.76% (12.01 t/ha) sugar yields over the control (no K) and was found to the best and could be recommended for improving sugarcane and sugar yields of ratoon in subtropical India.