Influence of potassium on yield and quality of cabbage and cauliflower on alfisols under seasonally dry tropical savanna climate

Cabbage and cauliflower are among the most popular vegetables grown in India. Two years field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of source and level of K on Cabbage and cauliflower yield and quality. The results have shown that yields increased significantly with increasing levels of K in both Cabbage and cauliflower crops up to 75 kg K₂O ha⁻¹. But when the source of K was considered as sulphate of potash(SOP) which performed better than muriate of potash(MOP) because of the associated chloride ion in MOP as the sulphur levels were maintained in all experimental plots including MOP plots. The quality of both cabbage and cauliflower increased with increasing level of applied K but the corresponding values were higher in SOP treated plots over MOP treated plots. Thus it may be the effect of chloride in MOP that decides the level of response of cabbage and cauliflower to applied potassium fertilizers. It is suggested that in the production of cabbage and cauliflower SOP may be used as the source of K over MOP.