Yield improvement in Bt cotton through foliar nutrition under rainfed vertisol

Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the foliar nutrition on morphological characters, physiological traits and yield attributes in Bt cotton under rainfed condition at Agricultural Research Station, Kovilpatti. The treatments consisted of foliar spray of 1% urea + 0.5% KCl, foliar spray of TNAU cotton plus @1.25% and control were imposed at flowering and boll formation stages. The morphological parameters viz., plant height, number of monopodial and sympodial branches as well as total drymatter production (TDMP) were recorded. Among the treatments, foliar spray of TNAU cotton plus recorded higher plant height, more number of sympodial branches and improved TDMP than other treatments. But no significant difference was observed in monopodial branches due to treatments. Foliar spray of TNAU cotton plus showed more chlorophyll content meter value when compared to other treatments. Significant difference was observed in relative water content due to treatments. The yield and yield parameters viz., number of bolls per plant, boll weight and seed cotton yield were also recorded. Foliar spray of TNAU cotton plus exhibited higher seed cotton yield (2036 kg/ha) than control (1848 kg/ha) and it has resulted 10.2% yield increment over control followed by foliar spray of 1% urea + 0.5% KCl (1929 kg/ha).