Response of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to boron application in calcareous soils of south-west Punjab
Loading...
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2015 to study the response of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to boron application in calcareous soils of south-west Punjab at Regional Research Station, PAU, Bathinda. The experiment consisted of two sources of boron (B) viz. borax and granubor and six levels of soil applied boron viz. 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 mg B kg-1 of soil and two levels of foliar applied boron viz. 0.1 and 0.2 per cent borax and granubor solution along with common control. Foliar application of boron was done between 85 to 105 days after sowing. The experiment was laid out in RBD factorial design with 3 replications. Yield and yield attributing characters increased significantly at 1.0 mg B kg-1 treatment level. Among foliar applied boron, 0.1 per cent solution was better than 0.2 per cent solution irrespective of boron sources. Soil applied boron was at the par with foliar applied boron. The trend of boron content and its uptake in different parts of the crop was: Leaves > Roots > Overall plant > Seed cotton and overall plant > Roots > Seed cotton, respectively. All of the fractions of boron increased significantly over the control at all the levels of soil applied boron. In case of foliar applied boron, all of the fractions of boron remained non-significant over control. Irrespective of the treatments, different B fraction occurred in order: residual B>organically bound B> specifically adsorbed B>readily soluble B>oxide bound B. Among sources, efficiency of borax and granubor was found to be equal and affected the above discussed parameters non-significantly.
Description
Keywords
Boron, calcareous soils, cotton, growth parameters