Effects of Management Practices on Growth and Yield of Sugarcane

Transcription

1 Jpn. J. Trop. Agr. 37(1): 11-16, 1993 Effects of Management Practices on Growth and Yield of Sugarcane S. M. Moslem UDDIN and Selichi MURAYAMA College of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara-Cho, Okinawa, Japan Abstract During the cropping season of 1988 to 1990, an experiment was conducted to analyse the individual as well as combined effects of certain managment practices on the growth and yield of sugarcane in Bangladesh. Eleven management practices for sugarcane cultivation were successively applied and compared with a control (Traditional farmer's practice) in a randomized complete block design with four replications using the sugarcane variety Ishurdi-16. The highest yield of cane (103.7 t/ha) and sugar (10.6 t/ha) were obtained by the combined use of all eleven management practices, while the lowest yield of cane (38.2 t/ha) and sugar (4.0 t/ha) were obtained in the control. The largest amount of recoverable sugar (11.6%) was obtained in the practice consisting of early planting (November), followed by the planting of canes in deep trenches (11.5%). The effects of individual management practices resulted in an increase of the rate of cane yield over the control ranging from 1.5 to 70.1 percent. The largest increase of additional cane yield among the adopted management practices was 70.1 percent for the optimum amount of fertilizers applied, followed by irrigation which increased cane yields by 28.0 percent. The adoption of the combined eleven management practices resulted in the highest yield of cane, i. e percent over the control. Key worlds. Bangladesh, Farmer's practices, Management practices, Sugarcane Introduction Sugarcane is one of the most important cash crops in Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh is suitable for sugarcane cultivation due to the geographic situation of the country as well as soil types and agro-climatic conditions, cane production per unit area is very low in comparison with that of other countries such as Japan, Cuba, Fiji, Mauritius and India4). Eleven million tons of sugarcane are required instead of the present production of 6.8 million tons to fulfill the domestic demand of one million tons of sugar for a population of 110 million at the Received December 17, 1991 consumption rate of nine kg per capita per yearly1). This increase of production could be achieved by the application of modern technol ogies. However, most of the farmers in Bangladesh are growing sugarcane using traditional cultivation methods by which cane yields can not be increased. Management practices in cluding ploughing, fertilizer application, gap filling, control of diseases, pests and weeds, harvesting and irrigation should be improved. Several reports3,6,7,18 concerning studies on the effects of management practices on sugarcane growth have been published. However, information on the combined effects of various management practices on cane yield under the Bangladesh conditions is limited. Therefore,

2 12 Jpn. J. Trop. Agr. 37(1) 1993 an investigation was undertaken to evaluate the individual as well as combined effects of different management practies on sugarcane production. Materials and methods A field experiment was conducted at the Sugarcane Research and Training Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna,Bangladesh, during the period from November, 1988 to January, The experiment was laid out in a randomized com plete block design with four replications. The twelve management practices selected for the experiment are listed below: Ti- farmer's practices (Control), which include the traditional practices adopted by Bangladeshi farmers: planting in late January at 75 cm row spacing, planting in plough furrow, use of 33 percent of optimum amount of fertilizers, no gap filling, no use of organic matter, no diseases and pests control and weeding only one time, one plough tillage between two rows of cane, no earthing-up, no irrigation and harvest ing with sickles (Fig. 1). T2- same practices as T1 except for early pla nting in November. T3- same practices as T2 except for the use of 100 cm row spacing. T4- same practices as T3 except for planting in deep trenches (spade trench at a depth of 25 cm). T5- same practices as T4 except for the use of optimum amount of fertilizers. T6- same practices as T5 except for the gap filling with pre-germinated seedlings. T7- same practices as T6 except for the use of cowdung (10.0 t/ha). T8- same practices as T7 except for diseases and pests control as and when necessary. T9- same practices as T8 except for weed con trol as and when necessary. T10- same practices as T9 except for earthingup in June. T11- same practices as T10 except for spade harvesting. T12-same practices as T11 except for the use of irrigation twice (10 th Feb. and 25 th March, 1989). The unit plot size was 12m ~8m. The land was ploughed and cross-ploughed five times using the bullock-drawn country plough (Fig. 2) followed by laddering (Fig. 3). The trenches were prepared by using a country plough and spade. Cowdung (10.0 t/ha) applied at the time of land preparation. Fertilizers were used at the amount of 125 kg N, 125 kg P2O5 and 110 kg K2O per hectare. Thirty three percent of N and 50 percent of K2O of the total required amount, respectively and the total amount of P2O5 were applied in the trenches at planting time. First top dressing was applied in March, 1989 with 33 percent of the required N. The remaining N and K2O were applied as second top dressing in May, Fertilizers were mixed into the soil after each application. Sugarcane variety Ishurdi-16 was used as the test crop. Three-eyed seed-cuttings which were hand-cut using a knife were treated with Fig. 1 Sickle, made of wood and iron Fig. 2 Bullock-drawn country plough Fig. 3 Ladder, made of bamboo and rope

3 UDDIN and MURAYAMA: Effect of management practies in sugarcane 13 a solution of Aretan-6 (1:400, Aretan: water) for 10 minutes. The treated seeds were planted in the field on November 10, In the case of farmer's practices, seeds were planted on January 25, In all the cases, the seeds were planted following the gend-to-end h method of seed placement. The intercultural operations were conducted as required by the treatments. Cane was harvested in January, The data were recorded on a whole plot basis for the germination rate at 60 days after planting, tiller count at 180 days after planting, amount of millable canes, stalk diameter, number of internodes, stalk length, yield of cane and recoverable sugar content in cane at harvest. The collected data were statistically analysed and the significance of mean differ ence was adjusted using Duncan's New Multiple Range test17). Results and discussion Germination rate, number of tillers, number of millable canes, stalk length, number of internodes and stalk diameter are presented in Table 1. Germination rate of seed cane increased significantly by the adoption of the management practices examined in this experiment but no significant differences were observed among the improved management prac tices (T2-T12). The highest germination rate (34.3%) was obtained when the deep trench method (T4) was applied and the lowest when farmer's practices (16.2%) were applied. Simi lar results were also reported by other investigators6,8,9). The maximum tiller number (123,500 no./ha) was obtained by the combined use of eleven management practices (T12), while the lowest (88,200 no./ha) was obtained when deep trench planting (T4) was performed. VERMA and YADAV18) observed the maximum number of tillers in autumn-planted sugarcane compare to summer or spring-planted sugarcane. The present investigation confirmed these findings. The results of this study indicate that the adop tion of improved management practices ex erted a beneficial effect on tiller production. The largest number of millable canes was obtained (76,100/ha) by the combined use of eleven management practices (T12), followed by (72,600/ha) nine and ten management prac tices (T10 and T11). The increase of the number of improved technological practices significantly improved millable cane produc tion. This finding is in agreement with the results of FoGLIATA5) who recorded the maximum number of millable canes in an irrigated field. The present invenstigation is also in agreement with the findings of HOEY and HossAIN8) who reported that the highest millable cane production occurred in early planted sugarcane rather than in late planted sugarcane. Table 1 Effects of improved management practices on growth of sugarcane * Means with the same letters in a column are not significantly diff erent at the 5% level by Duncan's New Multiple Range test.

4 14 Jpn.1. Trop. Agr. 37(1) 1993 Table 2 Combined effects of management practices on yield of cane and sugar over control * Means with the same letters in a column are not significantly different at the 5% level by Duncan's New Multiple Range test. The maximum stalk length (3.10 m) and number of internodes (27.0 /stalk) were obtained by the combined use of eleven management practices (T12). The maximum stalk di ameter (2.6cm) was observed by the combined use of ten (T11) and eleven (T12) management practices. Similar results were also reported by other researchers5,6,10,15). The present study confirmed the beneficial effects of management practices on sugarcane growth. The combined effects of improved management practices on cane and sugar yield are shown in Table 2. The highest cane yield (103.7 t/ha) was obtained by the combined use of eleven management practices (T12), while the lowest cane yield (38.2 t/ha) was obtained when farmer's practices (T1) were applied. The re sults obtained in this study were similar to those reported by other workers2,3,13,14) In this study the cane yield was found to increase from 38.2 to tons per hectare (20.4 to 171.5% increase of yield over control) by the application of improved management prac tices. The present investigation thus confirmed the beneficial effects of management practices on cane yield. The highest percentage of recoverable sugar (11.6%) was obtained for cane planted in No vember (T2), while the lowest (10.2%) for irrigated cane (T12). However, the highest yield of sugar (10.6 t/ha) was obtained by the combined use of eleven management practices (T 12) due to the highest yield of cane while the lowest sugar yield (4.0 t/ha) was obtained in farmer's practices (T1) due to the lowest yield of cane (Table 2). These results are in agree ment with those obtained by other researchers11,12,16,18) The yield of cane and sugar was found to increase from 20.4 to and 32.5 to percent respectively over the control by the application of improved management practices (Table 2). The highest combined increase in cane (171.5%) and sugar (165.0%) yield was obtained by the combined use of eleven man agement practices (T 12). Individual effects of management practices are shown in Table 3. The management practices individually increased the yield of cane in the range from 1.5 to 70.1 percent. The largest increase in cane yields (70.1%) was obtained by the application of the optimum amount of fer tilizers followed by irrigation (28.0%), while the minimum increase (1.5%) was obtained in the case of earthing-up. Addition of individual improved management practices gradually with the production process, resulted in a corresponding increase of cane yield. When seed cane was planted in November rather than in January, a 20.4 percent increase of yield was obtained in T2 over T1, due to the increase of the stalk length, number of internodes and stalk diameter (Table 1) associated with early planting (November) in comparison

5 UDDIN and MURAYAMA: Effect of management practies in sugarcane 15 Table 3 Effects of individual management practices on cane yield over control the increase of cane yield. Therefore, this investigation indicates that management practices should be adopted to achieve a higher yield of sugarcane, with special emphasis on the use of an optimum amount of fertilizers, irrigation, planting in early season with appropriate spac ing, use of orgainc manure and planting in deep trenches. Acknowledgement The authors wish to express their deepest gratitude to A. H. M. Delwar HossAIN, S. A. IMAM, Dr. S. M. Altaf HOSSAIN and Dr. Abdullah Al MAMUN for their suggestions and guidance in the preparation of this paper. with the late planting (January), a typical farmer's practice in Bangladesh. These results are in agreement with those reported by HOEY and HossAIN8). Planting at 100 cm row spacing rather than 75 cm produced a larger number of millable canes resulting in a 15.6 percent in crease of yield. Planting in deep trenches (T4) led to a larger number of millable canes and internodes than the T3 practice, which resulted in a 7.3 percent increase of yield. When the optimum amount of fertilizers was applied rather than the amount in farmer's practice, a 70.1 percent increase of yield was obtained due to the increase of the number of millable canes, stalk length, number of internodes and stalk diameter. Application of organic manure result ed in a 9.0 percent increase of yield compared with the absence of application due to the in crease of the number of millable canes, length and number of internodes of the cane stalks. Addition of irrigation to T11 practice, resulted in a 28.0 percent increase of yield in T12 prac tice compared with T11. The number of mill able canes, stalk length and the number of internodes increased with T12 compared with T11. Although there were no significant differ ences in the number of millable canes among the treatments from T4 to T12, the stalk length from T5 to T12 and the number of internodes from T5 to T12 (Table 1), on the whole there was a gradual increase of cane yield (Table 2). This study demonstrated the beneficial effects of improved management practices on Literature cited 1. ALI, M. Y., S. A. IMAM and M. K. ALI 1989 Ropa Akh Chash. Sugarcane Research and Training Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna. Publication no. 45, pp BENDA, G. T. A. and J. W. DUNCKELMAN 1985 Sugarcane yield of constant initial populations at different row spacings. Proc. ISSCT, 5: CHOWDHURY, M. K. A., M. H. RAHMAN and S. M. S. HASSAN 1982 Studies on NPK fertilizers require ment of Isd-16. Bangladesh J. Sugarcane, 4: FAO 1982 Production Year Book. Food and Ag riculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. 36: FOGLIATA, F. A Sugarcane irrigation in Tacuman, Proc. ISSCT, 15(2): GARCIA, R. I. and H. SANCHER 1982 Study of different depth of planting of sugarcane. Centro Azucar, 9: GOSNELL, J. M. and J. E. LONSDALE 1977 Effect of irrigation level and trash management on sugar cane. Proc. ISSCT, 16(2): HOEY, P. M. and A. H. M. D. HossAIN 1981 The effect of time of planting and harvesting on yield parameters of sugarcane at SRT 1. Bangladesh J. Sugarcane, 3: HUMBERT, R. P The growing of sugarcane. Elsevier Publication Company. Amsterdam, pp HUNTE, S. G Compost fertilizers trials on sugarcane in Barbados. Proc. 2nd Ann. Conf. Barbados Sugar Research Association, pp LONSDALE, J. E Planting depth and seed material for establishment of sugarcane. Proc. ISSCT, 14(2): MASUDI, M Influence of planting time and

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