Influence of Planting Geometry, Fertilizer Levels and Growth Retardants on Growth, Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Compact Cotton under High-Density Planting System

Influence of Planting Geometry, Fertilizer Levels and Growth Retardants on Growth, Yield and Nutrient Uptake of Compact Cotton under High-Density Planting System

Mohan Chavan^1* , Satyanarayana Rao² , Sujay Hurali³

¹College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi, Karnataka, India

²College of Agriculture, Raichur, Karnataka, India

³AICRP on Rice, ARS, Gangavati, Karnataka, India

Corresponding Author Email: mohanchavan13259@gmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.53709/CHE.2020.v01i01.008

Abstract

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INTRODUCTION

            In India, cotton cultivation area of 12.70 million hectares, with a share of 21 per cent of the global production (30.50 million bales) with an average productivity of 523 kg ha^-1 [1]. In India, the seed cotton yield per unit area is still far below than many other cotton growing countries in the world. Among the various factors responsible for low yield of cotton crop in the country, low plant population and use of low potential varieties are the primary importance. Various techniques like maintaining suitable plant density, use of optimum dose of fertilizers, growth regulators etc., are being used to overcome these constraints in cotton production. The present day cotton genotypes have a long duration of 180-200 days, late maturing, tall growing and spreading types leading to bushy appearance. They also requires wide spacing resulting in the production of netted canopy there by posing problems in taking up plant protection measures, machine picking, inefficient in trapping of solar radiation. At present, in India, entire cotton is picked manually which is labour intensive and is becaming expensive day by day.

            Under these circumstances, the concept of ‘High-Density Planting System’ (HDPS) in cotton that is ideally suited for both rainfed and irrigated ecosystems can improve the yield by increasing the plant population by 3 to 4 folds over recommended plant population per hectare. The HDPS cotton provides the scope for not only double cropping and mechanical harvesting but also the added advantages of reducing labour cost with few picking and also farmers will not depend on  seed companies for the purchase of seeds for sowing every time. HDPS and good fertilizer management under irrigated ecosystem is a viable approach to break the current trend of stagnating cotton yield.

            Altered plant density and crop geometry is a time tested agronomic technique to improve yield and profitability [2]. Establishing an appropriate plant stand is paramount to obtain high yields as low plant density will be wastage of resources while high plant density limits individual Plant growth [3]. Significantly higher seed cotton yield (1666 kg ha^-1) and stalk yield (7118 kg ha^-1) at higher plants density of 60 cm x 10 cm over lower plants densities of 75 cm x 10 cm (1550 kg ha^-1 and 6551 kg ha^-1, respectively), 90 cm x 10 cm (1356 kg ha^-1 and 5914 kg ha^-1, respectively) and 90 cm x 45 cm (1173 kg ha^-1 and 5454 kg ha^-1, respectively) [4].

            Compact cotton produces excessive vegetative growth under of high rainfall or irrigation with higher fertilizer levels resulting in mutual shading and shedding of reproductive parts there by reducing yield. While, maximizing yield through preventing the excessive vegetative growth during extreme moisture conditions, the use of growth retardants is required to maintain the suitable plant height of cotton for synchronous boll bursting and mechanical harvesting and this led to the interest in the use of plant growth retardants. Plant growth regulators when added in small quantity, modify the growth of plant by stimulating or inhibiting part of the natural growth regulations. They are considered as new generation of agrochemicals after fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Plant growth regulators are capable of increasing yield by 10-15 per cent in the field condition [5].

            Keeping these points in view, field investigation under irrigated condition was carried out to know the suitable planting geometry, optimum fertilizer level and growth retardant spray to get a sustained higher yield under the HDPS system.

  MATERIAL AND METHODS

            Field experiment entitled “Influence of planting geometry, fertilizer levels and growth retardants on growth, yield and nutrient uptake of compact cotton under high-density planting system” was conducted at Agricultural College, UAS, Raichur during 2016-17 and 2017-18 on medium black soil, neutral with low available nitrogen, medium in phosphorus, rich in potassium. The climatic condition during the experimental period was favorable and regular irrigation was provided to crop during both the years at the later part of crop growth stages i.e, from 60 DAS to till first picking.

            The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three planting geometries viz.,      S₁: 60 cm x 10 cm (1,66,666 plants ha^-1), 75 cm x 10 cm (1,33,333 plants ha^-1) and S₃: 90 cm x 10 cm (1,11,111. Plants ha^-1) as main plot treatments and six fertilizer levels with growth retardant spray viz., M₁: 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1,  M₂: 80:40:40 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1, M₃: 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1,M₄: M₁+ mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS, M₅: M₂ + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS and M₆: M₃ + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS as sub plot treatments with three replications.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Planting geometries

            Among the different planting geometries, significantly higher seed cotton yield  (2875 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis) was recorded with a closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm. Seed cotton yield was decreased significantly with further increase in row spacing and recorded lowest with the wider spacing of 90 cm x 10 cm (2388 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis). Whereas, growth attributing characters viz., number of sympodial branches per plant, total dry matter production per plant and absolute growth rate (13.82, 140.14 g and 1.81 g plant^-1 day^-1, respectively on pooled basis) and yield attributing characters viz., number of bolls and boll weight (12.74 and 3.68 g, respectively on pooled basis) were significantly higher under wider row spacing of 90 cm x 10 cm. while, other growth parameters viz., crop growth rate and leaf area duration were found significantly higher under closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm (25.51 g m^-2 day^-1 and 141.35 days, respectively on pooled basis).  The significant increase in the seed cotton yield under the closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm was mainly due to the higher plant population per unit area even though the growth and yield attributes were lower compared to the growth and yield attributes recorded under wider row spacing and since that increase in plants per unit area could be compensated for the decrease in yield components per plant under narrow row spacing. Similar results were also reported by different scientists [6, 7, 8].

Table 1.     Growth attributes of cotton as influenced by agronomic practices under high density planting system

Table 2.     Growth attributes of cotton as influenced by agronomic practices under high density planting system

Fertilizer levels with growth retardant spray

            A significant difference in seed cotton yield was noticed with different fertilizer levels with growth retardant spray. Application of higher fertilizer dose of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS recorded significantly higher seed cotton yield (2915 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis), growth attributing characters viz., number of sympodial branches per plant, total dry matter production per plant, absolute growth rate and crop growth rate (12.94, 138.06 g, 1.78 g plant^-1 day^-1 and 24.05 g m^-2 day^-1, respectively on pooled basis) and yield attributing characters viz., number of bolls and boll weight (12.36 and 3.67 g, respectively on pooled basis),  while significantly lower seed cotton yield (2392 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis), growth attributing characters viz., number of sympodial branches per plant, total dry matter production per plant, absolute growth rate and crop growth rate (10.37, 111.58 g, 1.51 g plant^-1 day^-1 and 20.52 g m^-2 day^-1, respectively on pooled basis) and yield attributing characters viz., number of bolls and boll weight (9.36 and 3.16 g, respectively on pooled basis) were recorded with the application of lower fertilizer dose of 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1. Significantly higher seed cotton yield with the increased fertilizer and growth retardant spray was mainly due to significant increase in growth and yield attributing characters and effective transfer of  photosynthates from source to sink. Similar result was also reported by other workers [6, 9, 10].

Table 3.     Yield attributes of cotton as influenced by agronomic practices under high density planting system

Nutrient uptake

A closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm recorded a significantly higher uptake of NPK (130.2, 28.9 and 136.9 kg ha^-1, respectively). It was mainly attributed to the higher plant population per unit area. Among different fertilizer levels with growth retardants, significantly higher uptake of NPK (133.8, 30.6 and 138.4 kg ha^-1, respectively) was recorded with the application of higher fertilizer level of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS and significantly lower NPK uptake (115.3, 21.1 and 126.5 kg ha^-1, respectively) were recorded with the application of a lower fertilizer level of 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1. Similar findings were also reported by other workers [6, 7].

Table 4.     Uptake of major nutrients (kg ha^-1) by cotton as influenced by fertilizer levels and growth retardant spray under high density planting system

Interaction effect

Different treatment combinations influenced significantly seed cotton yield. Combination of closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm along with the application of higher fertilizer dose of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS recorded significantly higher seed cotton yield (3178 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis) and it was found on par with the combination of closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm along with the application of medium fertilizer dose of 80:40:40 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS (3103 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis). Whereas, significantly lower seed cotton yield was observed with the combination of wider row spacing of 90 cm x 10 cm along with the application of lower fertilizer dose of 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 (2170 kg ha^-1 on pooled basis). These results are in close conformity with the finding of different scientists [7, 10, 11]. Among the interactions, significantly higher uptake of NPK (140.3, 33.9 and 143.6 kg ha^-1, respectively) was recorded at a closer row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm along with the application of a higher fertilizer level of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS. It could be due to the higher plant population per unit area and application of higher fertilizer dose and mepiquat chloride spray that led to higher biomass production and translocation to reproductive parts. Similar results were also reported by other workers [19, 10, 12]. 

CONCLUSION

Seed cotton yield with 60 cm x 10 cm spacing was maximum (2875 kg ha^-1) which was 5.91 and 20.39 per cent higher over  75 cm x 10 cm spacing (2705 kg ha^-1) and 90 cm x 10 cm (2388 kg ha^-1). Among different fertilizer levels with growth retardant spray, application of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂Okg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS produced significantly higher seed cotton yield (2915 kg ha^-1) which was 17.94 per cent higher over application of 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂Okg ha^-1 which recorded significantly lower seed cotton yield (2392 kg ha^-1) amongst all other practices. Combination of 60 cm x 10 cm spacing with application of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS recorded significantly higher seed cotton yield (3178 kg ha^-1) and was on par with combination of  60 cm x 10 cm spacing with the application of 80:40:40 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS (3013 kg ha^-1) which were 31.71 and 27.98 per cent higher over combination of  90 cm x 10 cm spacing with application of 60:30:30 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 which in turn recorded lowest seed cotton yield amongst all (2170 kg ha^-1). Among the different combinations, a row spacing of 60 cm x 10 cm along with the application of 100:50:50 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS recoded significantly higher NPK uptake (140.3, 33.9 and 143.6 kg ha^-1, respectively) followed by the combination of same spacing with the application of 80:40:40 N:P₂O₅:K₂O kg ha^-1 + mepiquat chloride @ 250 ppm sprayed at 60 DAS.

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