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Drought Management in Sugarcane at Formative Stage during Pre-monsoon Period

Author: Ch. Mukunda Rao, P.S. Rao, M. Vijayakumar and M. Bharathalakshmi

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Abstract

Sugarcane is an important commercial crop of Andhra Pradesh, next to cotton crop with industrial support. Sugarcane research under moisture stress/drought was carried out at R.S. & RRS, Rudrur & RARS, Anakapalle, period from 1993 to till date. Soil moisture stress/drought situation commonly occurs in sugarcane crop growth period coinciding with summer season for December – January planted crop. Due to severity of the moisture stress the yield penality accounts up to 50% as the formative phase of the sugarcane crop a critical phase for tiller production and later tranformation in to stalk population. If formative stage coincides with summer and experiences with drought situation by yield reduction is more when compared to normally irrigated crop. Since two decades of sugarcane cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, the productivity was stagnated at 76 to 78 t/ha except one or two years. One of the reasons for stagnation of cane productivity in A.P. is oil moisture stress/drought during for

Keywords

Soil moisture stress, cane yield (t/ha), cane quality, % Sucrose, Lime solution, Trash mulching, Skip furrow irrigation, Drip irrigation.

Conclusion

It is highly necessary that immediately after cessation of drought period, sufficient irrigation and fertilizers, particularly nitrogen and potash should be applied to put forth rapid growth and make up the loss suffered because of moisture stress, at least, partially. Similar type of soil moisture stress/drought mitigating techniques was also observed in sugarcane by Solomon, (2015). By adopting the above illustrated drought management practices, the loss due to soil moisture stress/drought can be overcome by satisfactorily and yield can be enhanced to an extent of 10 to 15%.

References

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How to cite this article

Rao, Ch. Mukunda, Rao, P.S., Vijayakumar, M. and Bharathalakshmi, M. (2021). Drought Management in Sugarcane at Formative Stage during Pre-monsoon Period. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 13(3): 241-244.