Sugarcane Botanical Name: Saccharum officinarum Origin: New Guinea Importance: Sucrose content in cane-13-24%, sugar from juice-6-10%, Jaggery from juice-9-10% Climatic Requirement: ➢ Tropical plant ➢ Temperature above 500c arrest its growth; below 200c slow it down ➢ Optimum temperature for growth is 26-320c. Soil: ➢ Well drained loamy soil Classification: ➢ Saccharum officinarum: These are thick and juicy canes good for chewing purpose ➢ Saccharum sinensis: These are long and thin stalks ➢ Saccharum barberi: These are short and thin stalks Field preparation: ➢ It requires a very thorough and clean preparation of land. It needs deep tillage. Shallow ploughing with local plough limits the development of root system resulting in lodging of cane plants ➢ First ploughing by soil inverting plough ➢ Second 3 to 4 intercrossing disk harrowing ➢ Planking after each disk harrowing Varities: CoC 671, BO 90, C0J 64, BO 110, Co 419 Seed selection ➢ Top one-third portion of a cane ➢ Seed cane should be taken from well mannered, erect and healthy crop of not more than 10-12 months age Seed rate : ➢ Seed rate: two eye set: 80,000 sets Three eye set: 35,000 sets Time of planting: ➢ Autumn: October ➢ Spring: February- march ➢ Adsali: July Method of planting: ➢ Flat planting: In this method 8-10 cm deep furrows are opened with a local plough or cultivator at a distance of 75 to 90 cm. The setts are planted in them end to end taking care that one three buded sett fall in each running 30 cm length of furrow. After this furrows are covered with 5-7 cm of soil and field is levelled by heavy planking. ➢ Furrow Planting: In this method furrows are made with a sugarcane ridger about 10-15 cm deep. Setts are planted end to end in the furrows and covered with 5-6 cm soil, leaving upper portion of furrows unfilled. Immediately after covering the setts water is let into furrows. ➢ Trench method: Trenches at a distance of 75 to 90 cm are dug with the help of ridger. Trenches should be about 20-25 ccm deep. After this already prepared mixture of fertilizers (NPK) should be spread uniformly in the trenches and mixed thoroughly in the soil. The setts are planted end to end in trenches after this trenches are filled up with loose soil. Manures and fertilizers: ➢ 25 tonnes FYM before sowing ➢ Urea- 650 Kg, SSP 500 Kg, MOP 100 Kg Water management: ➢ 200-300 cm water requirement ➢ Critical stages –formative phase (from 60th day of planting to 130th day) and grand growth phase ( from 130th to 250th day) Weed management: ➢ 2,4-D 1kg a.i. per ha in 500-600 liters of water ➢ Atrazine 2 kg a.i. per ha in 500-600 liters of water Diseases: ➢ Red rot – Dip the setts in 0.25% solution of mercurial compounds like agallol for five minutes ➢ Smut – Spray Mancozeb 2gm per liter Insects pests: ➢ Stem borer – Spray Quinolphos 2ml per liter ➢ Pyrilla – spray Imidachlorpid 1ml in 3litre of water yield: ➢ 11-12 months: 400-500 q/ha ➢ 18 months: 1000-1200q/ha Earthing: ➢ Earthing is needed where crop is planted by flat system. Where crop is planted in furrows or trenches, these are generally filled up in the course of interculture. Earthing should be done in the month of June-July after giving final top dressing of nitrogenous fertilizer. About 15cm high loose soil dug from the center of rows should be put along the lines of sugarcane. Tying: ➢ Varities of sugarcane that posses soft rinds and are raised under good crop management frequently lodge and therefore need tying up. This is done by tying together the canes of several clumps. Tying should be done in August when cane reaches about 2 metres height. Green leaves should not be tied up together while tying up the crop. .