Response of sugarcane genotypes to planting season and levels of fertilization in north Bihar

Abstract

A field experiment wa's conducted during the autumn and spring seasons of 1998-2001 on sandy-loam soil of Pusa, to study the performance of 3 sugarcane genotypes ('COP 95011, 'COP 9502' and 'BO 132') at 3 fertility lev- els (75, 100 and 125 % recommended dose of fertilizer), besides during the autumn, mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czernj. & Cosson] was taken as an intercrop. The autumn-planted cane intercropped with mustard produced 58.1 tonnestha cane and 10.0 qlha of mustard and fetched net profit of R s 35,149/ha, whereas spring-planted cane re- corded cane yield of 56.5 tonnestha with net profit of Rs 28, 343tha. Among genotypes, 'BO 132' (61.8 tonnestha) recorded significantly higher cane yield than 'COP 9502' (57.1 tonnestha) and 'COP 9501' (54.1 tonnestha), the later 2 were similar among themselves. Application of 125% RDF gave higher cane yield, than its lower levels.The germination and sucrose (%) in juice were significantly higher in spring and autumn-planted cane respectively.