Sugarcane

1. Climate : Sugarcane is basically a tropical crop requiring hot climate. But it also grows well in subtropical climate. Therefore in India, sugarcane is grown right from Punjab and Haryana in the North and Karnataka/TamilNadu in the down South. It has wider adaptability and grows well where temp00erature ranges between 20⁰C to 40⁰c. It responds well to long period of sunlight (12 to 14 hours), high humidity (above 70%) and high rainfall even upto 1500 mm. If assured irrigation water is available, it can also be grown in areas where rainfall is low upto 500 mm. As sugarcane crop remains in the field for more than 12 months, it withstands temperature variations of winter (6 to 8 deg.cent.) and summer (40 to 42⁰C) .
   

2. Soils: Black to medium black soils upto 100 to 150 cm depth with good drainage are most suitable. Sandy loam soils along the riversides are also good for this crop. As the crop remains in the field for 12 to 18 months, good fertile soils are most suitable. Water logged and chopan soils which have no drainage are not suitable.
   

1. Preparatory tillage: Two ploughings should be given. First ploughing should be 20-25 cm. deep. After applying F.Y.M second ploughing be given across the first ploughing. Then clods should be crushed by suitable implement or machine. Fifty cartloads (20 MT) of F.Y.M. should be given at the time of preparatory tillage, and properly mixed. The ridges and furrows are opened for irrigation. In black soils ridges and furrows should be 1.2 m apart and in medium soils 1.o.m.apart.
   

2. Seasons of Planting: There are three seasons of sugarcane planting :-

   1. Adsali – Planted in the months of June/July. This crop remains in the field for 15 to 18 months.

   2. Pre-season – Planted in October – November.

   3. Suru – Planted in January.

   Staggering of sugarcane planting in three seasons helps to ensure continuous cane supply to the sugar factories, whose crushing season is 160 to 180 days from mid-October or November onwards.

3. Varieties: There are different varieties for three seasons. However, some varieties which have wider adaptability are grown in two or even in all the three seasons.

   1. Adsali – Co – 740, Co-M-88121, Co-86032

   2. Pre-season – Co-740, Co-7219, Co-8014

   3. Suru - Co-740, Co-7219, Co-M-7125, Co-7527, Co-M-88121, Co-8014, Co-86032.
      

4. Seed rate and Planting:

   1. 25,000 sets of three eyebuds per hectare when ridges are 1.2m apart.

   2. 30,000 sets of three eyebuds per hectare if ridges are 1 m. apart.

   Seed sets should be treated with fungicide before planting. There are two methods of planting sets. 1. Dry method & 2. Wet method. If the soils are heavy and black dry method is followed and if the soils are medium or light, wet method is followed.

5. Interculture: As the crop remains in the field for a long period, interculture operations such as weeding/chemical weed control and earthing up are necessary. Pre-emergent sprays of weedicides such Atrizin, Diron or 2-4 D in suitable concentrations may be given. In addition, one or two weedings be given.
   

6. Fertilizers : Sugarcane is a very heavy feeder and hence it requires high doses of fertilizers compared to other perennial crops. Total quantities of N, P & K for sugarcane grown in three seasons are given below:-

Planting season Nitrogen Phosphorus Potash.

		Kg/ha	kg/ha	kg/ha
a.	Adsali	400	170	170
b.	Pre-season	340	170	170
c.	Suru	250	150	150

These quantities are given in four split doses and at critical growth stages .

First dose - at the time of planting
Second dose - 6 to 8 weeks after planting (tillering iritation stage)
Third dose - 12 to 16 weeks after planting (when full growth is attained).
Fourth dose - when 1-2 internodes are developed and second earthing is given.

7. Irrigation: Water requirement of sugarcane is the highest of all. The total quantity of water and number of turns to be given are different for the crop of three seasons.

   	Season	Water requirement cm.	No.of turns
   1.	Adsali	350	32
   2.	Pre-season	250	25
   3.	Suru	225	22

    

8. Yield : Yield depends upon the variety grown, season of planting and cultivation practices followed. If the recommended doses of fertilizers are applied and optimum irrigation is given, then the expected yield varies from 110 MT to 170 MT per hectare.
   
   

9. Ratooning: Sugarcane stem has an inherent ability of giving out new shoots from underground stems. If proper care is taken, these shoots develop into normal cane. This method of raising crop is called ratooning. Taking ratoon crop Is economical because it saves labour on preparatory tillage, opening ridges and furrows and planting. It also saves expenditure on seed material, as new sets are not required to be planted. If proper care is taken of ratoon crops as is taken of regular crop, ratoon crop also gives as much yield as ratoon crop. On account of these advantages, ratooning has become very popular among sugarcane growers. Of the total area under sugarcane in Maharashtra 40% is under ratooning.

 Labour saving machinery for Sugarcane

Sugarcane is an annual crop cultivated very intensively. From preparatory tillage to harvesting many operations are involved. All these operations require lot of labour. Nearly 300 to 350 days of human labour is needed per hectare to carry out all the operations without any use of machine. This causes lot of demand pressure on labour in sugarcane growing area. Since area under sugarcane has been increasing during the last 10-15 years, the demand for labour has increased so much thatn it is not available in peak periods and wage rates have also increased considerably. The use of 30-35 HP tractors has become very common and it provides motive power to several implements/attachments with which almost all operations in Sugarcane fields are carried out. The tractors and several attachments have provided good substitute for bullock power and human labour, particularly the latter one. The use of machinery has not only become cheaper, but the operations are carried out with more speed and quality of work is also superior. The present substitution of human labour by machines is not a complete substitution but a partial one and it should remain partial substitution, so that the problem of unemployment is not created in rural area.

The main centre of mechanisation in sugarcane cultivation is four-wheeled tractor which provides motive power to ploughs, disc harrows, Norwegian harrows, land levellers, ridges, cane planters and most commonly used trolleys used for transport of FYM, farm produce, and cane supplied to sugar factories. The information of various attachments that are used by tractor power is given in separate Table 1. In addition, some bullock drawn implements such as disc harrow, mould-board plough (Kirloskar plough), ridger, land leveller fertilizer drill, weader, super-drilling plough, krishiraj and other interculturing devices are also mentioned. All these tractor/bullock operated devices are used mainly to save human labour which has become difficult to obtain and also costly. And of course to carry out the operations with greater speed.

Ag.
Technologies
(Crop
Husbandry)