ENHANCING WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF COTTON CROP BY APPLYING POTASSIUM AT DIFFERENT GROWTH STAGES

Abstract

As a glycophytic crop, cotton shows higher abiotic and biotic stress tolerance compared to other crops. However, under severe stress conditions, its growth and productivity are adversely affected. Potassium (K) could diminish the decrease caused by drought, but the mechanism associated with this alleviation effect is not clear. We evaluated the effect of K in alleviating the stress caused by drought at four different growth stages i.e. seedling stage, flower bud stage, ball formation stage, and ball opening stage. The layout was designed as per RCBD design in triplicates. The maximum and minimum plant height were observed in control; T9 (29.1 cm) and deficit irrigation at boll formation stage; T3 (19.7 cm). The number of leaves was greatly affected by water stress at the boll opening stage; T4 (27.2). The Maximum number of bolls plant ^-1 (10.9) was observed in T5; 10% addition of K with deficit irrigation at seedling stage. The maximum seed cotton yield (78.7 maunds ha^-1) was obtained in treatment T8; deficit irrigation at ball opening + 10% addition of K with previous irrigation. It is concluded that treatment T8 (Deficit irrigation at ball opening + 10% addition of K with previous irrigation) performs better among all treatments in terms of cotton yield.