Drip fertigation ensures precise supply of water soluble fertilisers to meet the nutrient demand at different crop growth stages. Voluminous literature is available on the importance of drip fertigation especially on horticultural crops. But very few workers have attempted to carry out drip fertigation studies in sugarcane and information on such studies, particularly from farmer's field is scanty. Therefore, an attempt has been made to establish viable drip fertigation schedule by using water soluble fertilisers for sugarcane farmers belonging to Panamallevadi of Sangli district, Maharashtra with a view to enhance sugarcane yields. In all, 6060 single budded sugarcane (per hectare), adsali variety of Co 86032 (raised nursery in individual packet) was used for planting material. The planting was carried out during August 2010 by maintaining 6 feet X 3 feet planting distance. Fields were irrigated through drip every day for about 1.30 to 2.0 hours to maintain required moisture level for normal growth. Different grades of water soluble fertiliser were administered through drip fertigation at three days interval by adopting quantitative method using fertiliser tank. On an average drip fertigated sugarcane fields had registered higher cane yield of 205 t/ha which is about 2.4 times more than Maharashtra state average (84 t/ha). The yield increase was found to be 70% over the control i.e. traditional practice with surface irrigation (120 t/ha). The study suggests that drip fertigation is a viable option and it opens many avenues to enhance sugarcane productivity.
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