Cultivation of sugarcane
The botanical name of sugarcane is Saccharum officinarum, belonging to grass family. It is used as a multipurpose crop for the production of sugar, molasses and alcohol, as well as other products such as paper, sanitizer, power generation, animal feed, antibiotics and bio fertilizers are used as raw materials. Sugarcane is a cash crop, Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane and India is the second largest producer of sugarcane in the world. Sugarcane is mainly used as a commercial sugar producing crop. Which contributes about 70 to 75 percent of the production of sugar produced in the world, in the rest, crops like sugar beet, sweet sorghum etc.
Soil and Climate
Sugarcane crop requires 30 to 35 degree centigrade temperature and dry environment for good germination. Sugarcane can be cultivated in almost all types of soil with good drainage but loamy soil is considered best. Alkaline and acidic soils on which water stagnates are not suitable for sugarcane cultivation.
Right time for sowing of autumn sugarcane
The best time for sowing of autumn sugarcane is from October 15 to October 30. Autumn sugarcane can also be sown in early harvested paddy fields.
Right time for sowing of spring sugarcane
Mid February to March is considered the best time for sowing the spring sugarcane.
Field preparation
To prepare the field for the cultivation of sugarcane, once two to three harrowing should be done by plowing the soil with a reversing plow. 3 to 4 ploughings of country plow are suitable. It is necessary to have the desired moisture in the field at the time of sowing. In the absence of sufficient moisture, the field should be pulverized and sown.
Selection of cultivars
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Seed preparation
The deposition of one third of the upper part of sugarcane is relatively good, first before sowing the sugarcane, make two or three eyed pieces.
Treat the pieces with aerated steam at 50 degree selsius for one hour to control primary infection of fungal diseases. About 35000 to 40000 pieces of three eyed sugarcane and 50000 to 60000 pieces of two eyed are sufficient for one hectare area.
Sowing method
Furrow method is mainly adopt by the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, but the yield of sugarcane sown by the trench method is relatively high and in the sowing of autumn sugarcane, by taking the crop of mustard, potato, moong, etc. Additional benefits can be taken.
After preparing the field for sowing by the technique of trench, make a groove about one foot wide and about 25 to 30 cm deep with the trench opener, keep the distance between one drain to another 120 cm and put manure at the bottom of the drain. After that the treated pieces of sugarcane are sown.
Weed management
Weed control can be done by weeding after 25 to 30 days of sowing of sugarcane. In summer, April, May and June, 8 to 10 cm of dry sugarcane leaves are planted between the rows of sugarcane to conserve soil moisture and control weeds. It is beneficial to lay a thick layer.
Sugarcane weeding and hoeing
In sugarcane, weeding is very important for providing moisture and air to the roots of plants and from the point of view of weed control. Generally one hoeing should be done after each irrigation, by doing this the manure used in the standing crop gets mixed well in the soil.
Water management
The sugarcane crop is given a distance of 1200 to 1450 mm. Water is required, about 5 to 6 irrigations have been found beneficial in sugarcane crop. One irrigation has been found useful in sugarcane when there is no rain for 20 days.
Measures to save sugarcane lodging
• The distance between the rows of sugarcane in the field should be equal, which makes it easy to tie sugarcane.
• Avoid shallow sowing of sugarcane.
• Apply earthingup15 to 30 cm of soil twice on both sides of the sugarcane furrows.
• While tying of sugarcane, tie the stems together and tie them to the leaves.
• Tie the sugarcane up to two times. Do the first tying in July and the second one month after that when the plant reaches 3 to 3.5 meters.
• Do the work of tying in such a way that the cluster of green leaves does not gather in one place, otherwise there will be an obstruction in the photosynthesis process.
Sugarcane harvesting
Sugarcane is a cash crop which is supplied directly to the sugar mills. For harvesting sugarcane, the maturity of sugarcane should be checked with hand refractometer, if the point of hand refractometer reaches 18, then harvesting of sugarcane should be started. In the absence of hand refractometer, when the lower leaves of sugarcane become dry and hang, then sugarcane should be considered ripe.
Sugarcane production
The yield of sugarcane is found to be different depending on the species, generally, if good management and scientific methods are used, then 900 to 1000 quintals per hectare production can be taken.
