Abstract
Sugarcane is one of the major important sugar yielding crops in Bangladesh. As an
exhaustive crop, sugarcane removes the huge amount of plant nutrients from soil. In
this context, the combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers can be a good
approach to combat nutrient depletion and promote sustainable crop production as
well as improve soil health. Three experiments were carried out during 2012-13, 2013-
14 and 2014-15 cropping seasons to identify the most fruitful and profitable integrated
nutrient management on the aspect of growth, yield and quality of sugarcane cultivar -
Isd 39. Three doses of five selected organic fertilizers like green manure (GM), press
mud (PM), cow dung (CD), mustard oil cake (MOC) and poultry litter (PL) along with
50% supplementary doses of recommended fertilizers (SDRF) including one control
treatment were used in this study. There were sixteen treatments used in first
experiment. The experiments were laid out in single factor in Randomized Complete
Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and means were adjusted by Duncan's
Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% levels of probability. Results obtained from this
experiment showed that the highest cane and sugar yields (130.69 & 15.93 t ha-1) were
recorded in T15 treatment (PL @ 5 t ha-1 + 50% SDRF) followed by those in T, (CD @ 15 t
ha-1 + 50% SDRF), T12 (MOC @ 0.5 t ha-1 + 50% SDRF), T7 (PM @ 15 t ha-1 + 50% SDRF)
and T2 (GM @ 5 t ha-1 + 50% SDRF) treatments, respectively. Cane juice quality
parameters were statistically non-significant among the experimental treatments. The
highest gross return (Tk. 3,28,875.00), net return (Tk. 2,42,315.00) and BCR (3.55) were
observed in T15 treatment followed by T9, T12, T7 and T2 treatments, respectively.
Considering the performance of sugarcane for screening experiment, the selected doses
of different organic fertilizers along with integrated use of inorganic fertilizers were
applied in two experiments. There were seven treatments used in second and third
experiments. Data showed that the treatment T3 produced more tillers in both 2013-14
and 2014-15 cropping seasons. ns Similarly, millable cane (126.15 × 103 & 127.46 × 103 ha-1),
cane yield (144.02 & 129.41 t ha-1) and sugar yield (15.56 & 14.95 t ha-1) were also the
highest in T3 treatment in both seasons and it was statistically similar to T4 treatment.
The highest total dry matter yield of 3.81 kg m-2 in 2013-14 and 3.49 kg m-2 in 2014-15
cropping season were also obtained in T3 treatment followed by T4 treatment. The
treatment T4 produced the tallest plant height (4.38 & 4.60 m). The highest stalk heights
(2.86 & 2.94 m) were recorded in T3 treatment, which was statistically similar to all
other treatments except T1 and T2 treatments. The juice quality parameters viz., brix
(21.37 & 20.93%) and pol in cane (15.25 & 14.89%) were found significant in treatment
T3 while the highest purity (90.71%) was obtained in T, treatment. All the data of goor
quality parameters, the highest sucrose content (76.29 & 80.14%), colour transmittance
(54.80 & 57.80%), goor recovery (11.16 & 11.21%) and the lowest ash content of goor
(2.85 & 2.96%) were observed in T3 treatment in both seasons, which was as par to T4
treatment. The highest cost of production was obtained from T, treatment while the
highest gross, net return and BCR were recorded in T3 treatment. No significant
changes were found in one cycle of sugarcane in initial and post-harvest soil
characteristics viz. pH, organic carbon, total N, available P, K and S contents due to
integrated use of different fertilizer packages. From the experimental findings, it is
concluded that treatment T3 (PL @ 5 t ha-¹ + 95:51:87:9:10:2.5:4 kg NPKSMgZnB ha-¹)
followed by T4 treatment (CD @ 15 t ha-1 + 36:52:60:17:10:2.5:4 kg NPKSMgZnB ha-¹)
would be the better productive and profitable integrated nutrient management
technology for ensuring higher yields and quality of sugarcane without soil fertility
degradation in High Ganges River Floodplain soils.