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Studies on plant nutrition and effects of fertilizer use on sugarcane grown under different soil conditions in Guangdong province

IPNI-1995-CHN-GD9

Overview Related Interpretive Summary
25 May 2001

1997 Annual Interpretive Summary


Study on plant nutrition and effects of fertilizer use on sugarcane grown under different soil conditions in Guangdong, 1997

Sugarcane yields responded to P, K, Mg and S nutrients at all three experimental locations, but the degree of response was different for each plant nutrient at each location. Sugarcane yield was increased by over 10 percent on a Zhencheng soil that had relatively low P, K, Mg and S levels of 13.1, 61.2, 56.3 and 12.3 mg/kg, respectively. The economic return for balanced fertilization was significant as a value-to-cost ratio (VCR) of 4 was obtained with the application of 600-202-450-60-60 kg/ha of N-P2O5-K2O-Mg-S. The common practice of farmers is to apply 1,155-63-95 kg/ha of N-P2O5-K2O. Yields reached in the study were as high as 153 t/ha when optimum amounts of P, K, Mg and S were applied. The average yield for the province of Guangdong is 69 t/ha. Based on local conditions, results indicate that a balanced use of fertilizer could increase yields in high production areas (136 t/ha) by 13.7 t/ha, decrease fertilizer cost by 11.8 percent and increase net profits by 15.8 percent. GUANGDONG-09