*Corresponding Author ________________________________________________ Journal of Plant Development Sciences Vol. 9 (6) : 627-630. 2017 GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF SUGARCANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L.) AS INFLUENCED BY DIFFERENT VARIETIES AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLANTED IN SPRING SEASON OF CHHATTISGARH PLAINS Hemant Kumar Jangde*, N. Tiwari, Dinesh Kumar Marapi, Birendra Tigga and Bhujendra Kumar *Department of Agronomy, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur (C.G.) 492012 Received-03.06.2017, Revised-19.06.2017 Abstract: A field investigation was carried out at Research cum Instructional Farm of IGKV, Raipur, Chhattisgarh during spring season of 2014-15 to evaluate the effect of different varieties of sugarcane and nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of sugarcane. Experiment was laid out in split plot design (SPD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of five varieties viz., SG-Co-86032, Local Rasgulla, MSG-CoM-0265, SG-CoC-671 and EG-VSI-08121 in main plots and four nutrient management treatment of N: P 2 O 5 :K 2 O kg ha -1 (200:70:70, 250:80:80, 300:90:90 and 350:100:100) in sub-plots. Among the varieties tested, Local Rasgulla was recorded significantly improvement of higher growth, yield attributes and yield in terms of tillers (124.99 ×10 3 ha -1 ), plant height (319.20 cm), single cane weight (1374 g ), average cane diameter (3.15 cm) and cane yield (97.51 t ha -1 ) were recorded under the variety Local Rasgulla. Among the nutrient management treatments higher no of tillers (117.42 ×10 3 ha -1 ), plant height (311.50 cm), Single cane weight (1387 g), average cane diameter (3.11 cm) and cane yield (103.45 t ha -1 ) was recorded with application of 350: 100:100 kg N: P 2 O 5 :K 2 O kg ha -1 . Keywords: Varieties, Nutrient management, Sugarcane, Cane yield INTRODUCTION ugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrid complex) is an important sugar and commercial crop in India and plays a pivotal role in agricultural and industrial economy of our country. It provides rich source of sucrose, alcohol and organic matter waste which is utilized as fertilizer. There are many reasons for low yields of sugarcane. Among the multiplicity of factors responsible for low yield, adoption of faulty nutrient management practice and cultivation of obsolete cane varieties are the main reasons for poor productivity of sugarcane crop. Sugarcane variety shows a tendency to decline in yield and vigor which needs replacement of existing varieties with the new one and yield potentiality of a crop would not reach maximum unless proper nutrient management practices is used. This situation may be overcome using newly introduced varieties of sugarcane having better production potential and also adopting improved nutrient management practices. Sugarcane is a long duration exhaustive crop and it depletes the nutrients from soil heavily. On an average 1 kg N, 0.6 kg P 2 O 5 and 2.25 kg K 2 O are removed by one tonne of sugarcane. Thus a 100 t crop removes 100, 60 and 225 kg N, P 2 O 5 and K 2 O ha -1 from soil, respectively (Lakshmi et al., 2010). Earlier studies showed positive response of sugarcane genotypes to fertility level under diverse planting season (Shukla, 2007). Application of major plant nutrients in right proportion and in optimum quantity through correct method for specific soil- climatic condition is the key input for sustained crop production. There is differential response of the genotypes to the higher level of nutrients due to differential genetic potentiality of the particular genotypes (Sinha et al., 2005). An increase in cane productivity is the interaction of varieties and amount of nutrients applied to the crop. Thus it is important to select varieties along with its appropriate fertilizer doses for sustainable sugarcane production. In view of above, the present study was undertaken to find out the effect of nutrient management on growth, nutrient uptake and productivity of different varieties of sugarcane planted in spring season. MATERIAL AND METHOD A field experiment was conducted during spring season of 2014-15 at Research cum Instructional Farm of IGKV, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Geographically, Raipur is situated in south eastern part of Chhattisgarh at 21˚4’N latitude, 81˚35’ longitude with an altitude of 290.20 m above the mean sea level. The experimental soil of field was clay in texture with approximately neutral in reaction pH (7.62), EC (0.16dsm -1 ), low, medium and high in available nitrogen (245.73 kg ha -1 ), phosphorus (23.35 kg ha -1 ) and potassium (385.02 kg ha -1 ). Experiment was laid out in split plot design (SPD) with three replications. The treatments consisted of five varieties viz., SG-Co-86032 (V 1 ), Local Rasgulla (V 2 ), MSG-CoM-0265 (V 3 ), SG-CoC-671 (V 4 ) and EG-VSI-08121 (V 5 ) in main plots and four nutrient management viz. 200:70:70 kg N: P 2 O 5 :K 2 O ha -1 (F 1 ), 250:80:80 kg N: P 2 O 5 : K 2 O ha -1 (F 2 ), 300:90:90 kg N:P 2 O 5 :K 2 O ha -1 (F 3 ) and 350:100:100 kg N:P 2 O 5 :K 2 O ha -1 (F 4 ) in sub plots. Fertilizer nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium was applied in the S RESEARCH ARTICLE