Effect of Boron on the yield and quality of sugarcane

The application of micronutrients on the sugarcane crop in eastern India is not a wide spread practice, due to awareness of cane growers because only four nutrient like N.P.s. and Znare most popular and widely applied in eastern India in respect of fertilizers. Boron is essential in cell division, sugar translocation, proper hydration and metabolism of nitrogen and carbohydrates. Soil surveys showed that boron content in soils of these plains ranged from 0.02 to 2.42 ppm with a mean value of 0.32 ppm, indicating a below to critical limit. Taking the above point in to consideration, a field experiment was conducted at sugarcane research institute, Shahjahanpur (U.P) to test the seven doses of boron @.5 to 3.5 ppm alongwith control. Results indicated that application of boron@ 1.5 ppm was found effective in gradual increase in yield. The cane yield was 9.35% higher in comparison to control, but data did not reach to level of significance. Under this treatment, the sucrose percent of juice was significantly increased from 15.44 to 15.95 at 12^th month crop age which was 3.30% higher over the control. The critical level of boron in plant was computed in 6.5 ppm which showed that below this level, the cane yield and sucrosepercent injuicewill be affected adversely.