Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural College and Research Institute Killikulam during 1996-97 to study the effect of sugarcane trash compost (ST) and inorganic fertilizers on rice-rice sequence. Before initiation of field experiment, sugarcane trash composts were prepared by using various additives. The experiment was conducted in split-plot design, assigning trash composts along with raw trash and no trash treatment in main plot and four levels of fertilizers (F0 F50 F75and F100) to subplots with three replications. Residual effect of composts and fertilizers was tested by raising residual rice crop. The data on plant height, dry matter production, number of productive tillers, number of grains panicle", grain yield and straw yield were recorded. The results revealed that among the various composts tested, trash composted with urea, SSP and MOP in 1:2:2 ratio @ 25 kg t-1 of trash applied @ 10 t ha' recorded higher number of productive tillers (525 m) and grain yield (6337 kg ha-1). The nutrient content of the applied compost was 1.21, 0.73 and 0.82 per cent N2 P2O5, K2O respectively with lower CN ratio of 24.1:1. This compost along with 50 per cent of recommended dose of fertilizer (120:60:60 kg NPK ha-1) recorded higher yield parameters, yield and it was comparable with the same compost +100 per cent of recommended dose.

Keywords: Sugarcane trash, Composts, Rice, Nutrient substitution.