MANIPULATION OF CUTTING AGE, VARIETIES AND PLANTING TIME TO IMPROVE SUGAR AND CANE YIELD

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1 MANIPULATION OF CUTTING AGE, VARIETIES AND PLANTING TIME TO IMPROVE SUGAR AND CANE YIELD By R.B. KHANDAGAVE and B.H. PATIL KEYWORDS: Harvest Age, Month of Planting, Variety, Tropic. Abstract DURING early and lag ends of the crushing season, the industrial sugar recovery is low in tropical climatic conditions of India. Optimum cutting age, planting months and varietal composition for different phases of the crushing season are known to improve recovery and cane yield. Hence, to ascertain the same, six field experiments were carried out at the K.J. Somaiya s Karnataka Institute of Applied Agricultural Research, Sameerwadi during and Results indicated that increasing age at harvest from 10 to 16 months across the varieties and months of planting enhanced the average cane and sugar yield from 72.3 to 99.4 and 8.24 to t/ha, respectively. Further, cane planted during January irrespective of ages of harvest and varieties gave the highest average cane yield (93.2 t/ha). However, February planted cane produced the highest average sugar yield (13.29 t/ha) compared to other planting months. Comparing varieties irrespective of planting month and ages of harvest, CoC92061 recorded the highest average cane yield (91.9 t/ha) followed by Co86032 (91.2 t/ha). Sugar yield was highest with CoC92061 (12.99 t/ha) followed by CoC671 (12.62 t/ha). Based on these experimental results and to obtain higher cane yields and sugar recovery, it is recommended to harvest CoC671, CoC92061 and Co85246 at a crop age of months during October December, while CoC92061, CoC671, Co86032, CoM88121 and Co87044 should be harvested at 14 months of age during January March and, from April onwards, CoC671 and Co should be harvested at 14 month crop age Introduction Sugarcane is one of the important commercial crops of India and plays a pivotal role in the national economy. Sugarcane is grown over an area of 4.08 million ha, producing million tonnes with 9.87 percent average recovery (Anon., 2000). The target made for 2020 A.D. is to produce 400 million tonnes of sugarcane within the restricted area of 4.15 million ha, which will require a cane yield of 110 t/ha together with 11% recovery (Anon., 1997). Therefore, thrust areas in the sugar industry will be the screening and implementation of technologies for vertical expansion of cane yield along with higher sugar recovery. Choice of variety plays a key role in obtaining maximum returns per unit area. As new varieties become available, they need to be tested against existing commercial varieties, which is a continuous feature as discussed by Husz (1972). Shah and Shanmugasundaram (1972) indicated that increased age at harvest and different planting months have a profound influence on the cane and sugar yield per hectare, while Shrivastava and Singh (1984) observed that the time of harvesting played a major role for juice quality attributes of sugarcane. Therefore, a trial was conducted to determine the optimum age at harvest and month of planting for eight potential varieties, so as to enhance cane yield in conjunction with higher recovery throughout the cane-crushing period (starting from October to April) of the sugar industry in Northern Karnataka, India. 548

2 Material and methods Six experiments were conducted at the K.J. Somaiya Karnataka Institute of Applied Agricultural Research, Sameerwadi to study the effect of variety, cutting age, and planting months for obtaining higher cane and sugar yield. These experiments were planted from September to February during and Each experiment consisted of seven varieties viz., CoC671, CoC92061, Co85246, Co87044, Co86032, CoM88121 and Co8014 as one factor and four ages of harvest viz., 10, 12, 14 and 16 months were employed as another factor in a two factorial randomised block design having three replications. Data were subjected to statistical analysis as described by Gomez and Gomez (1984). All the recommended practices like seed rate, fertiliser dose etc. were followed as per the schedule for all experiments. These six experiments were carried out under irrigated conditions, and there were no biotic or abiotic stresses during the course of investigation. The results of the two plant crops for these six experiments planted for two seasons were averaged for interpretation of the results. Results and discussion Variety Of the seven promising varieties, CoC92061 recorded the maximum average cane yield (91.8 t/ha) followed by Co86032 (91.2 t/ha). Variety Co8014 had the lowest average cane yield (77.8 t/ha). Due to higher sucrose % in case of CoC671 and CoC92061, the average sugar yield was highest in CoC92061 (12.99 t/ha) followed by CoC671 (12.62 t/ha) and Co86032 (12.25 t/ha) (Table 1). Patel et al. (1998) observed a high cane and sugar yield with variety CoC671 under varying harvest dates. Table 1 Average cane and sugar yield (t/ha) for seven varieties over six experiments. Variety Cane yield (t/ha) Sugar yield (t/ha) Average Average CoC CoC Co Co Co CoM Co Month of planting Among the months of planting, across varieties and ages at harvest, January planted sugarcane recorded maximum cane yield (93.1 t/ha) over other months of planting (Table 2). Rao and Chitakala Devi (1990) were also of the same opinion. Interestingly, the sugar yield was highest in the months of February and January due to the prolonged peak sugar recovery that persisted while harvesting these planting months. Table 2 Average cane and sugar yield of experiments planted during each month from September to February. Planting Cane yield (t/ha) Sugar yield (t/ha) month Average Average September October November December January February

3 Age at harvest The age of harvest is having profound influence on cane as well as sugar yield. Regardless of planting month and variety, increasing the harvest age from 10 to 16 months enhanced the average cane yield from 72.3 to 99.4 t/ha. However, the maximum average sugar yield was obtained at 14 months (13.28 t/ha) and the lowest at 10 months (8.24 t/ha) (Table 3). Carlos et al. (2001) obtained a maximum sugar recovery for cane harvested at 13 months of age. Table 3 Average cane and sugar yield of cane harvested at 10, 12, 14 and 16 months of age Age of harvest Cane yield (t/ha) Sugar yield (t/ha) (months) Average Average Conclusion Based on the experimental results carried out for two crops, the following recommendations (Table 4) can be made for northern Karnataka climatic conditions of India. Table 4 Crushing period and age of harvest for recommended varieties for northern Karnataka, India. Crushing period Age of harvest (months) Varieties October November 14 to 16 Co85246, CoC671and CoC92061 December January 14 Co85246, Co86032, CoC671 and CoC92061 February March 14 CoC671, Co86032, Co85246, Co87044, CoM88121 April May 14 CoC671, Co86032, Co85246, Co87044, CoM88121 Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Shri.Samir S.Somaiya, Executive Director: Somaiya Group, Mumbai for providing the encouragement and facility to pursue this program at the K.J.Somaiya s Karnataka Applied Agricultural Research, Sameerwadi. REFERENCES Anon. (2000). Indian Sugar. 19: Anon. (1997). Strategies for efficient utilisation of resource and minimisation of constraints in sugarcane productivity. In: Proc. Deccan Sugar Technologists Association, Pune, India, pp Carlos, A.L., Carlos, A.M., Alberto, E.P., Cabrera, V. and Daza, O.H. (2001) The age of cane cutting and agro industrial recovery of sugar. Proc. Int. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol., 24(2): Gomez, K.A. and Gomez, A.A. (1984). Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research, 2nd Ed.John Wiley and Sons. New York.p.639 Husz, G.S. (1972). Sugarcane cultivation and fertilisation. Elsevier publishing Company 85p. Patel R.S., Shah, T.M. and Patel, M.P. (1998). Evaluation of sugarcane cultivation under varying harvesting dates. In: Proc. Deccan Sugar Technologists Association, Pune, India, Rao, K.L. and Chitakala Devi, T. (1990). Studies on the performance of early, mid and late maturing sugarcane varieties under different times of planting and harvesting. In: Proc. Deccan Sugar Technologists Association, Pune, India, 38, Shah, S.S. and Shanmugasundaram, S. (1972). Sugar recovery in different regions as influenced by varieties and time of crushing. Proc. National symposium on sugarcane varieties held at Coimbatore, India,

4 Srivastava, S.N.L. and Singh, V.R. (1984). Summary of investigation under AICRP on Sugarcane Agronomy in Haryana Agricultural University during the decade Co-operative Sugar, 15(5): 275. AMELIORATION DU RENDEMENT EN CANNE ET EN SUCRE EN UTILISANT L AGE DE COUPE, LA DATE DE PLANTATION ET LES VARIETES By R.B. KHANDAGAVE et B.H. PATIL MOTS-CLÉS: Âge de Récolte, Mois de la Plantation, Variété, Climat Tropical. Résumé EN DÉBUT et fin de campagne sucrière, le sucre récupérable industriellement est faible dans les conditions climatiques tropicales de l'inde. L'âge optimum de récolte, les mois de plantation et la composition variétale durant les différentes phases de la campagne peuvent améliorer le rendement en canne et en sucre. Ainsi, pour établir des recommandations, six essais ont été récoltés à l'institut de recherche agronomique appliquée K.J. Somaiya du Karnataka, Sameerwadi, durant les campagnes et Les résultats ont montré que l augmentation de l âge de 10 à 16 mois, quelque soient les variétés et la période de plantation, augmente les rendements en canne et en sucre de 72.3 à 99.4 et 8.24 à t/ha, respectivement. Comparé aux autres mois de plantations et indépendamment des âges de coupe et des variétés, la canne plantée en janvier donne le rendement canne le plus élevé (93.2 t/ha) et celle plantée en février produit le rendement en sucre le plus élevé (13.29 t/ha). Indépendamment des âges de coupe et périodes de plantation, CoC92061 a produit le rendement en canne le plus élevé (91.9 t/ha) suivi de Co86032 (91.2 t/ha). Le meilleur rendement en sucre fut obtenu avec CoC92061 (12.99 t/ha) suivi de CoC671 (12.62 t/ha). Pour obtenir des rendements élevés en canne et sucre récupérable, il est ainsi recommandé de récolter les variétés CoC671, CoC92061 et Co85246 à mois pendant la période Octobre-Décembre, CoC92061, CoC671, Co86032, CoM88121 et Co87044 à 14 mois pendant Janvier-Mars. CoC671 et Co à 14 mois à partir d'avril. MANIPULACIÓN DE LA EDAD DEL CORTE, VARIEDADES Y PLANTACIÓN PARA MEJORAR LA PRODUCCIÓN DE AZÚCAR Y CAÑA Por R.B. KHANDAGAVE y B.H. PATIL PALABRAS CLAVES: Edad de Cultivo, Mes de Plantación, Variedad, Trópico. Resumen DURANTE el principio y final de la temporada de aplastamiento, la recuperación del azúcar industrial es lenta en las condiciones climáticas tropicales de la India. Ya se sabe que una edad de corte óptima, unos adecuados meses de plantación y una composición variada para las diferentes fases de la temporada de aplastamiento, mejoran la recuperación y producción de la caña. Por lo tanto, para asegurar lo arriba mencionado, se llevaron a cabo seis experimentos de campo en el Instituto de Investigación Agrícola Aplicada K.J. Somaiya s Karnataka Sameerwadi durante los años y Los resultados indicaron que cuanto más tarde se hiciera el cultivo de 10 a 16 meses de todas las variedades y meses de plantación, mejoraba el promedio de caña y la 551

5 producción de azúcar de unas 72.3 a unas 99.4 toneladas y de unas 8.24 a unas toneladas por hectárea respectivamente. Adicionalmente, la caña plantada durante el mes de enero, independientemente de la edad de cultivo o de las variedades, producía el mayor promedio de rendimiento de caña (93.2 t/ha), aunque cabe destacar que la caña plantada en febrero produjo el mayor promedio de rendimiento de azúcar (13.29 t/ha) comparado con otros meses de plantación. Comparando las variedades, independientemente del mes de plantación y edad de cultivo, el CoC92061 registró el mayor promedio de producción de caña (91.9 t/ha) seguido del Co86032 (91.2 t/ha). La mayor producción de azúcar la realizó el CoC92061 (12.99 t/ha) seguido del CoC671 (12.62 t/ha). Basándonos en estos resultados experimentales y con el fin de obtener unas producciones de caña mayores y una mejor recuperación de azúcar, se recomienda cosechar CoC671, CoC92061 y Co85246 a la edad de meses, durante los meses de octubre diciembre, mientras que CoC92061, CoC671, Co86032, CoM88121 y Co87044 deberán ser cosechados a la edad de 14 meses durante los meses de enero marzo y, a partir de abril, las variedades CoC671 y Co deberán ser cosechadas a la edad de 14 meses. 552