Multi-Location Evaluation of Copper Fertilization on Cane Yield of Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) under Alkaline-Calcareous Soils of Southern Punjab, Pakistan

作者：Muhammad Javid Qamar, Muhammad Rashid Farooq, Sehrish Jameel, Muhammad Bilal, Aftab Ahmad Sheikh, Beenish Butt, Muhammad Asif, Tahir Akbar, Ali Rizwan, Samina Hamid, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Asadullah · 发表于：Global Research Journal of Natural Science and Technology · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.53762/grjnst.04.04.03 · 研究领域：Sugarcane Cultivation and Processing、Soil Geostatistics and Mapping、Banana Cultivation and Research

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) productivity in southern Punjab is constrained not only by macronutrient imbalance but increasingly by latent micronutrient deficiencies on the region's alkaline-calcareous soils, where free CaCO₃ and chronically low organic matter immobilize plant-available copper. A multi-location field trial was therefore conducted during the 2023–24 crop season at three contrasting sites of the Bahawalpur–Bahawalnagar tract ; Haroonabad-1, Haroonabad-2, and Bahawalpur; to evaluate the response of spring-planted CPF-246 cane to graded levels of broadcast copper sulphate pentahydrate (CuSO₄·5H₂O). Five treatments comprising 0, 6, 8, 10, and 12 kg CuSO₄·5H₂O ha⁻¹, applied over a uniform NPK basal of 250–175–125 kg ha⁻¹, were arranged in a two-factor randomized complete block design with three replications at each site. Soil analysis confirmed alkaline pH (8.22–8.40), low organic matter (0.23–0.86%), and contrasting EC (1.31–2.9 dS m⁻¹) and macronutrient status across the three sites. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant effects of treatment (F = 14.34, p < 0.01) and location (F = 46.36, p < 0.05) on cane yield, while their interaction was marginally non-significant (F = 2.29, p = 0.0825). Cu fertilization progressively improved cane yield, with pooled mean yields rising from 104,993.8 kg ha⁻¹ in the unfertilized control to 112,843.2 kg ha⁻¹ at the highest tested dose. The greatest cane yield response over the NPK-only control wa...