Sugarcane

Land Requirements Select fields in which sugarcane crop was not grown in the previous one year. To avoid and reduce the disease incidence such as red rot, wilty etc. long duration crop rotation should be adopted. the soil should be fairly rich and the fields welldained, with no previous history ofwater logging. the irrigation must be assured. Areas where the incidence of borers, mealybugs and scales is more than twenty per cent should not be selected for seed cane production.  
Isolation Requirements Only one variety may be gorwn at a farm. In any case the seed plot must be isolated at least by 5 meters all around from other sugarcane fields.

 

Cultural Practices

Time of Sowing The planting of seed crop should be so adjusted that the seed crop is harvested at 8-10 months age in tropical and at 10-12 months age in subtropical regions of the country.
  


Preparation of Land One to two deep ploughing and one cross ploughing followed by disc harrowings or repeated ploughing by desi plough followed by levelling till the land is reduced to a fine tilth are required. After this, the field is irrigated for its final preparation by harrowing or ploughing by desi plough followed by levelling.


Source of Seed Obtain breeder's/foundation seeds from source approved by a seed certification agency.


Seed Rate  


Sowing of Seeds Flat planting: In this method shallow furrows (10cm deep) are opened at a distance of 90 cms. thesets are placed in them end toend and covered with 5-7 cm soil and the field is levelled.
ii) Furrow planting: In this method furrows are opened with a ridger, about 10-15 cm deep in northern India and 20 cm deep in peninsular India. Sets are laid end to end in the furrows and covered with 5-7 cm of soil, leaving the upper portion of the furrows unfilled. In south Indian states immediately after planting and covering thesets water is let into thefurrow. the row to row spacing is kept at 90 cms.
iii) Space transplanting technique: This is a new technique which minimises the input levels and suits for quick production for multiplication of nucleus and breeder seeds and also suits seed growers with small holdings.
a) Raising of setting nursery: For planting 1 ha. it is sufficient to raise a setting nursery in 50 sq.m. area a month before actual planting. Small plots of approximately one square meter are made and the single bud sets (drawn from the upper half of the cane stalk by cutting just above the growth ring and leaving 8-10 cm of the internode below thebud) are dibbled vertically, keeping the bud and the root bands just above the soil surface. In each of these small plots approximately 600-800 single bud sets,are accomodated. After dibblings the set's are covered with dried cane leaves and kept in a position with a light soil cover. The nursery is irrigated frequently tomaintain optimum moisture conditions. Water stagnation inside thenursery beds is avoided. Eighty five to ninety five per cent of the buds sprout within 3 to 4 weeks time and three to four green leaves appear in most of the settlings by this time, this is the right stage for space planting in the field.
b) Transplantation of settings and preparation of settings: Settings should be carefully removed from the nrusery and dettopped with a sharp knife. The detopped settings are then dipped in 0.1 per cent are tan solution and taken out immediately. A portions ofsettings nursery (about 2000 to 2500 settings) is reserved for gap filling, in the field at later stage.


Fertilisation The fertilizer requirements depends upon the soil and climatic conditions and theseshould be worked out on thebasis of soil tests. For seed crops the fertilizer requirements are approximately twenty-five per cent higher than commercial crops. In general,however, under north Indian conditions apply 60-75 kg nitrogen, 100 kg phosphorus and 75 kg potash per ha at the time of planting; and 60-75 kg nitorgen per ha after 80-100 days; and 30-75 kg nitrogen per ha. approximately four to six weeks before harvest. Under south Indian conditions these doses will be 125-150 kg nitrogen, 125 kg phosphorus and 100 kg potash per ha at the time of planting; 125-150 kg nitrogen after 80-90 days; and 40-50 kg nitrogen per ha approximately four to six weeks prior to harvesting.
It is advisable to apply half of thenitrogen in the form of bulky organic menures such as FYM or compost and the remainder in the form ofammonium sulphate or oilcakes or a combination of the two. The bulky organics should be ploughed into the soil sufficiently in advance of planting. Oil cakes are usually given at the time of planting and ammonim sulphate in two or three doses at planting or tillering, at earthing up and four to six weeks prior to the harvest of seed crop.


Transplanting The transplanting of settlings isdone at a distance of 90 cm between rows and 60 cm with in rows. In case of moderate tillering varieties, orin late planting, the spacing between rows and within the rows may be reduced to 75 cm and 45 cm, respectively. Cane rows are opened and the settlings are transplanted within them at the requisite distance. Thereafter the field is irrigated and kept in moist condition by frequent irrigation. After about 10 days of transplanting the gaps occuring due to mortality ofsettlings are filled by transplanting settlings from the reserve portion of the nursery and irrigated immediately. After the settlings are established normal cultural practices like irrigation, hoeing etc. are give as and when needed.


Spacing  


Irrigation The maintenance of optimum soil moisture during all stages of crop growth is one of the essential requisites for raising a good sed crop. In tropical India, usually one or two waterings are given at intervals of three or four days after planting to help the sets to germinate and the seedlings to establish themselves. Thereafter in the absence of rains the cane crop should be irrigated atan interval of 10-12 days during its growing period. Subsequently the frequency of irrigations is reduced.
In northern India thecrop needs water more frequently in summer. the autumn crop requires on an average seven irrigations, five before the monsoon rains and two after receding of themonsoon. The spring crop may need six irrigations. However, in drier climates and light soils eight to ten irrigations may be necessary.


Interculture The first hoeing and weeding should be given to the crop three to four weeks after planting. In some pockets where the weeds come up rapidly in the planted fields one blind hoeing should be given within the one or two weeks after planting. After germinatioin, depending upon the field conditions and frequency of irrigation two or three more hoeings and wedings are required during the first three months after planting. good care in weeding and interculture helps the clumps                 well, and to form canes early. The crop should be so managed that it grows rapidly to have a canopy cover or shading over the interspaces. the shading adversely affect the growth of weeds and thus keep their population very low.


Insect and Disease Control Adopt recommended IPM methods


Roguing Rogue out clumps affected by smut, grassy shoot disease, red rot and wilt from time to time. Also remove plant infested by borers as and when noticed. Both at the time of planting and at the time of harvest sort out/reject off type cane stalks differing from the typical characteristics ofthevariety under seed production.


Harvesting and After care

The harvesting should commence when the seed cane is approximately 8-10 months of age in tropical regions and 10-12 months ofage in sub-tropical regions. However, before cutting the crop for obtaining seed, the seed field is given good irrigation. During cutting and further handling of the crop every effort must be made to avoid damage to the buds. Also, the harvested canes should be processed quickly. As a matter of fact the harvesting of seed crop should commence only after the field has been finally prepared and other arrangments such as transportation etc. have been made. the harvested can should not be allowed to dry up and if there are any delays in planting water sprinklings should be done on the canes for checking drying of the canes.
All such canes showing diseas/insect infection or infestation and the off-type canes must be culled out and rejected for seed purposes. It should be ensured that no mixture ofcanes of different varieties takes place either during harvest or transportation ofseed canes to the plot. The seed pieces or sets should be prepared and immediately planted after the requisite treatments.


Seed Yield The average seed yield is about