Response of bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) to macro nutrients and liquid fertilizers

A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2011 at Agricultural College Farm, Raichur to study the response of bt-cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to macro nutrients and liquid fertilizers. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with RDF (75, 100 and 125%) in main plots and liquid fertilizers (control, foliar application of nutroplus @ 2 ml/lit, foliar application of Bio 20 @ 3 ml/lit, foliar application of 1% MgSO₄ + 0.5% ZnSO₄ and Foliar application of 2% KNO₃) as sub plot treatments with three replications. The results revealed that application of 125 per cent RDF recorded highest seed cotton yield (19.25 q ha¹), seed cotton yield per plant (106.92 g plant ⁻¹), mean boll weight (4.13g), number of good bolls (22.15), total number of bolls (26.19), and chlorophyll content (43.24 mg g⁻¹). Among foliar spray of liquid fertilizers foliar spray of Bio 20 @ 3 ml/l recorded the highest seed cotton yield (18.10 q ha⁻¹), seed cotton yield per plant (100.66 g plant⁻¹), mean boll weight (4.06 g), total number of bolls (24.88), chlorophyll content (44.00 mg g⁻¹), gross returns (Rs. 75,022 ha⁻¹) and net returns (Rs. 51,964 ha⁻¹).