Nutrient levels, Quality, Sugarcane, Weed management, Yield
A field study was conducted during spring season in 2007-08 and 2008-09 at Muzaffarnagar to evaluate the influence of nutrient and weed management practices on yield attributes, yield, quality, nutrient uptake and economics of sugarcane. Results showed that application of 125% of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) enhanced the cane yield to the tune of 15.52 and 3.60% over 75 and 100% RDF owing to remarkable improvement in cane length, cane girth, cane weight and NMC. Sucrose, available sugar and commercial cane sugar (CCS) yield were also improved by 17.3, 23.4 and 42.6% over 75% RDF while 2.73, 3.15 and 6.84% over 100% RDF, respectively under application of 25% higher RDF. The values of juice extraction and purity per cent were remained statistically unchanged under 100 and 125% RDF but significantly improved over 75% RDF. The uptake of NPK in cane, green tops, trash as well as in total produce along with net return and B:C ratio were also noticed higher under fertility enrichment with 125% in comparison to lower ones. Weed free treatment produced maximum values of cane and CCS yield, yield components, juice extraction and nutrient uptake which was followed by application of glyphosate 1.0 kg/ha at 25 days after planting followed by one hand weeding at 60 DAP and performing of three hand weeding at intervals of 30, 60 and 90 days after planting (DAP). Although, the higher B:C ratio was registered under application of glyphosate 1.0 kg/ha, at 25 DAP followed by one hand weeding at 60 DAP owing to lower cost of cultivation. Consequently, application of 125% recommended dose of N: P2O5 :K2O along with glyphosate applied 1.0 kg/ha at 25 DAP followed by one hand weeding at 60 DAP proved valuable in enhancing the yield, quality and economics of spring planted sugarcane.