A Research Report on EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DOSES OF NITROGEN AND PHOSPHOROUS ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF COTTON

Submitted By:

Babu Ram Panthi B.S. (Agriculture)

panthibabu@outlook.com

2012

Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science

1. Introduction Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant (plants of the genus Gossypium). The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa, India and Pakistan. Cotton, the white gold is one of the important commercial crops playing a key role in the economics, political and social affairs of the world (Bhatta, 1992). In spite of severe competition with synthetic fibers, cotton continues to enjoy a place of prime importance in the textile industry (Joshi, 1997). Cotton is grown chiefly for its fiber, used in the manufacture of cloth for the mankind (Singh, 1997). In other words, cotton lint is the most important seed fiber in the world today and is woven into fabrics either alone or combined with other fibers (Purseglove, 1979). The invention of saw gin and the development of the factory system, together with the ease of production and adaptability to machine manufacture, caused a rapid expansion in the use of cotton. Even in 1924-1928 it provided 84.2% of the world textiles (Purseglove, 1979). At present cotton constitutes 85% of the raw materials of Indian textile industry and in Nepal they fully depend on cotton fiber. India ranks 3rd in cotton production, after China and USA (USDA, 2010). Moreover in cotton production benefits are obtained when production are combined with processing. In this context, cotton cultivation was also started in Nepal to fulfill the demand of its textile industries since1976 (Basnet, 2006). The cotton seed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which after refining can be consumed by human like any other vegetable oil. The cotton seed meal that is left generally is fed to ruminant livestock; the gossypol remaining in the meal is toxic to monogastric animals. Cotton seed hullscan be added to dairy cattle rations for roughes. During the America slavery period, cotton root bark was used in folk remedies as an abortifacient, that is, to induce a miscarriage. Table 1: Area and Production of Cotton in Nepal, 1999/00-2008/09 Year 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Area (Ha.) 1229.3 1135.5 101.7 117.6 15.5 20.o 59.0 50.0 75.0 100.0 Prod.(mt) 743.7 458.8 150 61.1 12.5 12.0 57.0 45.0 68.5 59.0

Cotton is also an important cash crop of Nepal grown over an area of 3400ha with a production and productivity of about 2400mt and 0.7mt, respectively as compared to approximately 2000 ha cultivation and 1.2 mt productivity during 1991/92. The major cotton growing areas Banke, Dang, Deukhuri, Kailali and Kanchanpur, western and far western are development regions of Nepal. The largest producer of cotton, currently(2009), are china and India, with annual production of about34 million bales and 24 million bales , respectively; most of this production is consumed by

their respective textile industries. The largest exporters of raw cotton are united states, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa with sales of $2.1 billion. The total international trade is estimated to be $12 billion. There are several factors responsible for the proper growth , development and yield of seed cotton and cotton fiber. Among factors influencing these fertilizers specially nitrogen and plant population are the most important .higher and lower dose of fertilizer both are detrimental to yield and yield attributes. In cotton cultivation responses are mostly obtained from N, nitrogen helps in increase in no of reproductive branch so large no of bolls per plant can be obtained. N increase plant height, LAI, frutingpoing no of bolls per plant finally increases the yield. Higher N at later stage delay maturity, vegetative growth continues and at squaring increase plant height, intermodal distance so less no of boll. And deficiency of N cause reduce growth as height reduce less no of symodial branches, shedding of boll, poor assimilating surface , retard squaring and flowering. Plant population also strongly affects yield since if plants are too wider spaced there will be wastage of land and few plants per unit area and even if closer spaced may cause shedding effect, larger vegetative growth, increases intermodal distance so few sympodial branches finally lower down the yield. Plant density, affect strongly to the total and vegetative dry mass and LAI. Plant density affected more the vegetative growth and less the reproductive growth. In this regard this experiment will be relevant to solve the problems. 2. Objective To be familiar with cultural practices of growing cotton. To identify the influence of Nitrogen and phosphorous level on growth and development of cotton.

3. Literature review 3.1 Effect of different dose of Nitrogen on cotton Fertilizer application plays an important role in raising cotton production . deficiency or toxicity of any nutrient results in reduction of plant growth and ultimately the yield. It is established fact that optimum nutritional requirement of cotton are primary importance to boost up its production. Nitrogen is utilized in cotton plant to greater extend and as generally considered the most important nutrient for maximizing the cotton yield(Breitenbeck and Boquet,1993). An adequate supply of nitrogen is essential for well developed growth, fruiting and yield of cotton crop(Boquet et al ,1994). It is widely recognized that nitrogen supply exerts a marked influenced on the vegetative and reproductive growth. Increasing rate of nitrogen increased the plant height and the number of flowers and bolls, but also do not increase seed cotton yields because of increase shedding of lower bolls. Moreover, they added that excessive nitrogen fertilizer dose not improved the yield potential or profitability of cotton production(Boquet et al,1994). It is also important to minimized the potential contamination of ground water with nitrate from excessive use of fertilizer on light texture soils. The second picking was found to be dependent on the N rate(Mascsagi et al,1993). Fertilization is now a system problem and research has to quantified the relationship between all the factor of fertilization and create models in order to helps farmers

to manage their crops (Bisson et al, 1994) it has been advocated that recovery of applied nitrogen is very low when crop is grown under irrigation ( soomro and Waring,1987) . Arain et al,(2001) , reported a significant increase in plant height , boll weight, boll per plant and seed cotton yield with split application of nitrogen fertilizer. The applied nitrogen may be lost from the soil plant system through leaching and denitrification resulting in yield reduction(Wayne,1986). Keeping this fact in view, the study was undertaken to determine the effect of split application of nitrogen on seed cotton yield and its component. In a field experiment conducted in the rainy season from 1995 to1997 at Bawal, the mean boll weight increased significantly with each increasing level of N up to 80kg/ha, and the mean number of opened bolls and seed cotton yield/plant and seed cotton yield/ha during all season increased significantly with increasing N level up to120kg/ha . on an average, the increase in seed cotton over the control was 22.7 ,35.5 and 45% with 40 ,80 and 120 kg/ha respectively the boll weight and seed cotton yield/ plant is also significant in each level of fertilizer increased. The seed cotton yield per plant is increased significantly upto 120kg/ha which give yield increase at 9.77 ,6.43 , 4.46% . from 80 kg N to 120 kg N/ha it is not significant in boll weight but was significant in seed cotton yield this is because of significant number of opened boll number in per plant. ( Singh et al ). 4. Materials and Methods Cotton was grown with two levels of fertilizers, one with 80:60:40 kg NPK/ha and other with 60:40:40 kg NPK/ha. Whole dose of Phosphorus and Potash was applied as basal dose whereas Nitrogen was applied in 2 splits, 66% on second thinning and remaining as the side dressing. The trail was conducted at the field of Agronomy farm during the rainy season of 2011. Each plot constitutes 5 rows of 2m length with spacing of 90 * 20 cm2. For observation and measurement, the whole group was divided into 5 groups. During crop growth phonological observation were recorded in all rows of all plots. At first, the field was clear and dug to make the soil pulverized and it was leveled and rows were formed at a distance of 90 cm. Ten seeds per hill was sown and reseeding was done as required. Plant height was measured at fixed date. Table: 1Calendar of operation S.No. Operations 1 Main field preparation and sowing 2 Gap filling 3 Thinning 1st thinning 2nd Thinning 3rd thinning 4th Thinning 4 Fertilizer Application 1st side dressing 2nd side dressing Date 2068-02-29 2068-03-10 2068-03-11 2068-03-19 2068-03-23 2068-05-23 Remarks

4 seedling kept 3 seedling kept 2 seedling kept 1 seedling kept

2068-03-19 2068-05-23

Insecticide Spray 1st Spray 2nd Spray 3rd Spray Earthing Up and Weeding 1st 2nd

2068-05-18 2068-05-27 2068-06-08

2ml/l Thiodane 2ml/l Desis 2ml/l Thiodane

2068-03-19 2068-05-23

5. Observation Plant phenology is the study of time between like events, dissimilar events or the duration of the process. Like events include the time intervals between main stem, leaves or branches on plants. Unlike events include the time interval between the plant emergence and formation of flower buds or mature fruits. In this experiment, events like day to emergence, true leaf formation and time interval between leaf stages and plant height was observed. Table: 2Observation of plant height in cotton in Different Plots Plot No. 1 4 Average 2 3 Average Remarks Appendix: 1 Observation for the Germination of Cotton in Row: 2 of Plot No. 1 (Roll: 58 & 59) Hill No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2068-03-04 2 3 3 2 3 4 3 2 No. of plants/hill Date 2068-03-05 2 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 Character Fertilizer Dose 60:40:40kg NPK/ha 37 DAS Plant Height ( cm) 47 DAS 57 DAS

80:60:40 kg NPK/ha 18.714 22.032 26.14

2068-03-06 2 4 5 4 4 4 3 5

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Percentage Appendix: 2

4 3 3 4 5 3 2 3 3 3 61.11

4 3 3 5 5 4 3 4 3 3 71.11

4 4 3 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 78.8

Observation of Cotton Height in cm, at different Days After Sowing (DAS) in first row of Plot No.1 No. of Hill 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Average 37 DAS
12 19 20.5 17.5 19 16 17.5 12.5 17 19 12 18 14.5 11 18 18 20 21 16.80

47 DAS 20.5 25 19.5 20 23.5 22 22.5 19 20.5 23 21 24.5 22.5 19.5 24 23.5 25 26.5 22.33

57 DAS 26 33 34 32 33.5 32.5 32 25 31 33 26.5 33 29.5 22.5 30.5 31 34 35 30.77

Observation of Plant Height in Cotton of Plot No.1 Row No. 1 2 3 4 5 Average Appendix: 3 Phenological Observation for True Leaf at Different DAS in Cotton (Row: 1, Plot No.1) Hill No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Percentage (%) 2nd true Leaf Stage 12 DAS 13 DAS 16 DAS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 50 72.2 100 3rd True Leaf Stage 17 DAS 20 DAS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 55.55 83.33 4th True Leaf stage 21 DAS 22 DAS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 50 83.33 37 DAS 22.62 16.8 15 18.94 18.714 Days after Sowing 47 DAS 28.8 22.31 21.58 24.67 22.032 57 DAS 33.38 30.72 30.58 31.82 26.14

References Basnet, K.B., 2006., Response of cotton varieties to the stage of topping under rainfed condition of Bardiya, Nepal. Journal of IAAS. 27:165-168. Bisson, P.M., Cretenet and E. Jalaps,1994. Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium availability in the soil physiology of the World Cotton Research Conference 1:115-124. MOAC, 2010.Area and production of cotton.available http:// www.moac.gov.np USDA. 2010. Cotton area, yield and production. Foreign Agriculture Service, available http://www.fas.usda.gov