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IMPACT OF BORON
FERTILIZATION ON DRY MATTER PRODUCTION AND MINERAL CONSTITUTION OF
IRRIGATED COTTON
NIAZ AHMED1,
MUHAMMAD ABID1, FIAZ AHMAD2, MUHAMMAD AMAN ULLAH3, QAISAR JAVAID4,
AND MUHAMMAD ARIF ALI1*
Abstract:
The inorganic
fertilizers produce significant effects on quantity as well as quality
on the produce of most of the crop plants: The productivity of cotton
crop varies greatly due to addition of macro-and micro-nutrients. Among
micro-nutrients, boron fertilizer holds significant importance in not
only sustaining but also enhancing the yield of cotton. At the advent of
excessive use of high analysis fertilizers, a wide spread deficiency of
boron in soils of Pakistan is of common scene. However, research studies
are limited on the quantity and the impact of boron fertilizer on
production of biological yield and its chemical composition of cotton
plant under irrigated conditions. The present study was therefore
conducted to determine the influence of boron fertilizer on dry matter
production and its interactive effects on other nutrients in plant
system. The experiment was conducted on calcareous soils under irrigated
conditions for two seasons 2004-2005 at Bahauddin Zakariya University,
Multan. The treatments consisted of six levels of boron fertilizer i.e.,
0.0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 kg B ha-1 and were arranged
in randomized complete block design with 4 replication. Cotton crop cv.
CIM-473 was planted during the month of May and harvested in November
each year. The standard production practices were followed. The results
showed that application of boron fertilizer produced significant effect
on enhancing biological yield of cotton. Maximum dry matter yield was
achieved by addition of 3.0 kg B ha-1. Crop planted during
season 2005 produced higher quantity of biological yield compared to
year 2004. The addition of various levels of boron caused substantial
increase in the uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, copper, iron,
zinc and boron nutrients, while lowering down of calcium magnesium and
manganese in different parts of the cotton plant. The enhanced
assimilation of macro-nutrients resulted in greater production of
biological yield and better growth and development of cotton plant.
1University College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan,
Pakistan.
2Central Cotton Research Institute, 60500 Multan, Pakistan.
3Department of Statistics, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan.
4Agricultural Chemist Soil & Water Testing Laboratory, Bahawalpur.
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