Research and Development for Sugarcane Sustainable Production.
Project coordinator : Preecha Prammanee
Sugarcane production is now facing a number of problems including low soil fertility and disease and pest outbreaks. Moreover climatic change are resulting in low rainfall and higher temperatures. Removal of the whole crop from the field, the burning of trash and other management practices reduce the soil organic matter which has effects on the soil physical properties. The balance of nature has been broken down. The project here aims to study the effects of agricultural practices on the ecosystem and what might help to improve agriculture in a sustainable way. In 1995-1996 research work has mainly focussed on agronomy and biological control as follows :
Agronomy
15N tracer studies for mineralized nitrogen from decomposed green manure and uptake by sugarcane.
15N tracer studies for mineralized nitrogen from decomposed green manure and is uptake by sugarcane were conducted at Suphan Buri Field Crops Research Center. Sesbania, sunnhemp and mungbean were lebelled with 10.2 atom % excess 15N urea. Sugarcane was planted after incorporaing green manure and mungbean into the soil. At harvesting the quantity of 15N in sugarcane was determined by plant digestion, distillation and mass-spectrometry. Results indicated that green manure can add 71.8 kg N/ha into the soil of which 15 kg N/ha was uptaken by sugarcane. This quantity of nitrogen was lower in mungbean. Furthermore detailed experiments to confirmed this finding are necessary in the future.
Use of ammonium laureth sulfate, rock phosphate, animal manure and green manure for cane yield improvement.
Most sugarcane in the western sugarcane belt of Thailand is grown in a silty clay loam soil. After planting with cane for a long period, this soil becomes compacted , has a low infiltration rate and always has a surface crust. To solve these problems six soil management strategies were compared and evaluated in Kamphaeng Sean soil at Suphan Buri Field Crops Research Center in 1994-1995. By using green manure cane yield is higher than that of the control. This result was in keeping with the results in 1994. Using ammonium laureth sulfate, rock phosphate and chicken manure did not show any advantage over that of the control. The long term effect of these materials should be further evaluated in future experiments.
Long term effect of various sugarcane soil management strategies.
Minimum tillage practice on soil growing sugarcane soil has been proposed as an alternative practice to reduce loss of soil productivity in many countries. However it is not a popular practice in the Thai sugar industry. Five tillage techniques were evaluated in Kamphaeng Sean soil series in 1984-1985. Conventional tillage was compared with no tillage with these being combined with various soil managements in 4 replicate strip trials. It was found that in plant cane grown in silty clay loam soil, conventional tillage was necessary for growth and yield production of sugarcane. No-tillage with stool burning can decrease soil organic matter. There is no significant difference between the 2 nitrogen application rates (143.7 and 287.5 kg N/ha). After two years the cane yield decreased when planted with conventional land preparation. In contrast cane yield of the first ratoon increased when it was planted under minimum tillage land preparation. The possible explanation is that under minimum tillage, soil conditions were improved and that a higher water holding capacity made growth and development of sugarcane better than conventional tillage. More details of this effect should be studied in the near future. The first ratoon cane did not show any response to nitrogen fertilizer.
The optimum period of ratoon eradication under a minimum tillage system.
The practice of chemical and manual ploughing using glyphosate and a digging hoe were evaluated at Suphanburi Field Crops Research Center in 1993. The experimental design was 2 x 4 factorial in RCB with 4 replications. Comparison between chemical and manual sugarcane ratoon eradication were combined with four different ages of ratoon, 15, 30, 45 and 60 days after cutting plant cane. The results showed that by using the chemical the ratoon was effectively eradicated, more than that of manual eradication. However the chemical had to be sprayed at 45-60 days after cutting the plant cane. At this stage the ratoon cane was 50-100 cm high and had developed its canopy sufficient to intercept the chemical more effectively than at other stages.
Use of green manure for cane yield improvement in farmers’ fields.
Incorporation of green manure was proved to be beneficial to sugarcane since this practice improved soil conditions and sugarcane yield. The results reported here are from an evaluation of green manure incorporation into the soils of farmers’ fields. Two experiments were conducted at Danchang, Suphanburi and Tamaka, Kanchanaburi. The 5 green manures were evaluated in a strip trial with 4 replications. Sugarcane UT 207 was planted after the incorporation of green manure. The results showed that incorporation of swordbean, cowpea, sesbania and crotaralia increased cane yield by 9.3, 11.8, 10.6 and 20.6 t/ha respectively over that of no green manure incorporation. Cane juice quality slightly improved in the of green manure treatment. The effect of green manure on the first ratoon cane will be evaluated in the next trial.
Biological control of cane borers by Trichogramma confusum.
In an attempt to biologically control cane borer, 125,000 T. confusum/ha were released every 2 weeks in 7 lots from the time the cane was 2 months old. These areas were compared with control, non-release plots. Two locations, Amphur Muang, Nakhonpathom and Amphur Thatako, Nakhonsawan were selected for this trial. The percentage of borer infestation and T. confusum parasitization were recorded. It was found that at Nakhonpathom, the seasonal average T. confusum parasitization percentage in release plot was 66.45 % higher than that of the non-release plot. Whereas reduction of % borer infestation was 71.09. Moreover, the yields in the T. confusum release plot was 43.7 t/ha and 5.5 t CCS/ha higher than in the non-release plots.
Similarly, in Nakhonsawan the average seasonal T. confusum parasitizing percentage in release plot was 68.14 % higher and yield were 6.87 t/ha and 1.37 t CCS/ha higher than in the non-release plot.
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SUGARCANE@
[RATOONING]
[SALINE SOIL]
[WATER STRESS]
[QUALITY]
[SPECIFIC REGIONS]
[RAINFED CONDITION]
[SUSTAINABLE]
[CANE SETT]
[JUICE CANE]