Balanced Nutrient Management Studies for Cotton-Wheat Cropping System in Sindh

Abstract

Students were carried out under Pakistan science foundation funded project no. R&D/S-CCRI/AGR (4) entitled ’’Balanced nutrient management studies for cotton-wheat cropping system in Sindh’’ at central cotton Research institute, Sakrand. The project studies were conducted for the period of two years i.g. from 15th June 2002 to 14th June 2004 and the findings are summarized as under: Cotton and wheat are important crops of Pakistan and efforts are required to rise per hectare yield and for that use of balanced fertilizers is an essential factor. To exploit maximum potential of soil, fixed experiments with various treatments of balanced fertilizer were conducted on cotton and wheat crops at various places in districts Naushahroferoz and sanghar (Sindh), and it was observed that yield of seedcotton and wheat grain was significantly increased with the application of balanced fertilizer nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. Boron and zinc application to deficient fields enhanced seedcotton yield by 23 to 36 percent and wheat grain yield by 8 to 34 percent over NPK treatment in project area. Soil and cotton plants samples were collected from 100 randomly selected growers in each district and were analysed for macro and micronutrients. It was found that the soil of district Naushahroferoz and saghar are alkaline and calcareous with low organic matter. The laboratory reports suggest that soils are deficient in nitrogen (95 to 98 percent ), phosphorus (100 percent), BORON (40 TO 49 percent ), and zinc (14 to 38 percent ) nutrients elements. The soil are adequate in iron, copper and manganese (100 percent0 phosphorus (94 to 100 percent), potash (7 to 18 percent), boron (42 to 49 percent) and zinc (24 to 26 percent). It is obvious that maximum yield can be obtained from these soil through the application of required nutrients in deficient soils. Soil application and foliar feeding of boron and zinc were found equally effective; further more, foliar application was observed more effective in terms of VCR (value cost ratio). Our frames are unaware about modern technology in agriculture, therefore they are getting poor yield from their crops. However, our findings suggest that maximum yield may be achieved through the adoption of integrated plant nutrient management (IPNM). Use of balanced fertilizer may be beneficial for poverty alleviation, educated and healthy nation.