Divalent cations rich soil for quality production of jaggery-A case study

A village Haripara (Mau, Uttar Pradesh) is known to produce quality jaggery from the month of November to April with 9-12% jaggery recovery, almost all the produce is exported owing to the excellent quality of the jaggery produced from sugarcane variety CoS 767. In view of this to assess the state of the soil and jaggery quality as well, analysis was carried out and it was observed that there was a broad range in soil reaction (4.8 - 8.5) of Haripara. The available organic carbon (0.46%) and phosphorous status were (10.23 kg/ha) low but, potassium (178 kg/ha) was at medium status. However, the nutrient status of available micronutrients viz; sulphur (11.58 mg/kg), zinc (1.05 mg/kg), iron (15.64 mg/kg) manganese 4.57 mg/kg) and copper (1.40 mg/kg) were stated to be above the critical level. The jaggery produced from the sugarcane grown in this soil was less in invert sugars% (3.51%) and the color intensity was 110. The purity of the jaggery was recorded 83.92%. It could be concluded that the soil with high content of micronutrients (divalent cations) may be used for quality produce of sugarcane, which could result into production of better quality of jaggery.