EVALUATION OF THE PRODUCTIVITY OF TWO SUGARCANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L.) VARIETIES AS INFLUENCED BY MULCHING, K-FERTILIZATION AND IRRIGATION INTERVAL

ABSTRACT

Four  experiments  comprising  three  field  trials  were  conducted  at  the  upland   sugarcane experimental field of the National Cereals Research Institute Farm, Badeggi (90  451  N; 60 071 E) in the Southern Guinea savanna ecological zone of Nigeria from 2010 to  2012 wet and dry seasons. The fourth experiment was conducted at the screen house of the Research Institute. Two varieties  of  sugarcane  used  for  the  experiments  were  chewing  sugarcane  (Bida  Local)  and industrial sugarcane i.e. National Cereals Sugar 008 (NCS  008). The first experiment was to determine the effect of different mulching materials on the growth and yield of sugarcane was a 2 x 3 x 2 factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications.  The second experiment that evaluated various parts of sugarcane cutting that could be planted by the farmers was a 3 x 3 x 2 factorial laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The third experiment which assessed the effect of harvesting time and three polyethylene colour as mulch on postharvest quality of sugarcane was a 4 x 2 factorial laid out in randomized  complete  block  design  (RCBD)  with  four  replications.  The  fourth  experiment determined  the  growth  performance  of  sugarcane  under  different  watering  regime  and  K- fertilizer rates was a complete randomized design (CRD) with four replications laid out in the screen house. Three setts of sugarcane were planted per row and ratoon for each experiment was assessed for the next cropping season for all the experiments. The following parameters were measured: establishment count, stalk length and girth, number of stalks, tillers produced, nodes and inter-nodes, % brix, stalk yield.   Establishment count significantly (p<0.05) differed in both the plant and the ratoon crops in 2010 and 2011. In the ratoon crop, mulching with groundnut shell produced higher establishment count (60%) compared to 52% when rice husk was used. Also, increasing organic matter rate increased the establishment count in the ratoon crops. In all the sampling periods, the stalk length of NCS 008 variety was significantly (p< 0.05)  higher compared to that of Bida local in both cropping systems. Mulching at 40 t ha-1  gave the best yield for both the plant and ratoon crops when compared to 0 and 20 t ha-1.  Plots mulched with 40 t ha-1 of groundnut shell gave the highest yield. The highest stalk yields of   42.25 and 50.31 t ha-1    were obtained from plant and ratoon crops in 2010 and 2011 respectively for NCS 008; 38.12 and 45.19 t ha-1 in 2010 and 2011 respectively, for Bida local. . Furthermore, the optimum stalk yields obtained from 40 t ha-1 in 2010 and 2011 plant and ratoon crops were higher than the maximum  obtained  for 0 and 20 t ha-1. The  brix  content  from  NCS 008  was  significantly (p<0.05) higher than Bida local. The top parts of NCS 008 and Bida local significantly  (p<0.05) performed higher than either the middle or the bottom part. NCS 008 grew significantly (p<0.05) taller than Bida local for plant and ratoon crops. The application of 90 kg K ha-1 gave the highest yield of ratoon when compared with the application of either 0 or 60 kg K ha-1. The least yield was obtained from 0 kg K ha-1  for both crops. Coloured polyethylene  significantly  (p<0.05) increased the vegetative growth of sugarcane when compared with control. Plot harvested at 12 MAP performed  better than those harvested at 10 MAP. The yield from black  polyethylene mulch proved superior to red and green colour at 12 MAP. Better sugarcane yield (45.40 t ha-1) was obtained by polyethylene mulching compared to no mulch (10.73 t ha-1). Incidence of smut, dead heart, termite attack was not evident with the use of polyethylene mulched plant and ratoon crops in 2010 and 2011.  The application of 90 kg K ha-1  decreased the establishment count of Bida local. Six days watering interval and potassium application at 90 kg K ha-1  significantly (p<0.05) increased the stalk length, stem girth, leaf area and dry matter component of Bida local in 2010 and 2011. The application of 60 and 90 kg K ha-1 produced more tillers than 0 kg K ha-1 in 2010 and 2011. 90 kg K ha-1  produced more nodes than 60 and 0 kg K ha-1. Watering interval increased  the length of the  inter-nodes.  The application  of 90 kg K ha-1  had the highest K- content. The yield and  %  brix were highly significant (p<0.05) in ratoon crops than in plant crops in all the experiments.  NCS 008 produced more yield than Bida local. Hence, NCS 008 is recommended for estate and sugarcane out growers. Ratooning with the use of  organic waste should be employed so that the yield of sugarcane can be increased in successive cropping. The use of agricultural waste such as groundnut shell will considerably reduce the cost of inorganic fertilizer as well as reducing or eliminating the environmental hazards caused by such waste. The use of organic materials at 40 t ha-1  is recommended  as mulching material. The top  and middle parts should be used by farmers to propagate sugarcane.  Incidence of smut, dead heart, termite attack was not seen with the use of polyethylene mulch in plant and ratoon crops of 2010 and 2011. Therefore, the use of colour polyethylene should be encouraged. Watering interval of 6 days and application of 90 kg K ha-1 is recommended to obtain maximum growth and yield of sugarcane

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), had its origin from an island in the South Pacific and most likely North Guinea and India, and was brought to Nigeria along the Western and Eastern coasts in the fifteenth century by European sailors (Aikulola, 1978). The major world commercial  production  centres of this crop include Australia,  Brazil,  China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, USA and Sudan (Busari, 2004; Gupta et  al., 2004).

Sugarcane growing countries lies between the latitude 76.70 North and 31.00 South of the equator extending from tropical to subtropical zones. Worldwide, sugarcane occupies an area of 20.42 million hectares with a total production of 1333 million metric tons (Ahmed, 2003). Its productivity per area differ widely from country to country with Brazil having the highest area of 5.343 million hectares and Australia with the highest  productivity of 85.1 tons/ha (Ahmed, 2003). In Nigeria, chewing sugarcane is grown on about 30,000 ha. This represents less than 0.6% of the areas of inland valley swamps  (IVS) available for production.  The combined production of both industrial and  chewing sugarcane rose from 607,000 tons in 1970 to 920,000 tons in 1992, before production started declining in 1993 (Busari, 2004). The large scale cultivation  of industrial  cane in Nigeria is limited to 4 major areas  including Bacita (6000 ha), Numma (5000 ha), Sunti (800 ha) and Lafiagi (300 ha)  (Busari, 2004). Chewing sugarcane is grown widely by local farmers across Nigeria on the alluvial soils of Ogun, Ondo, Cross River, Oyo States and in other lowland areas especially in Niger, Katsina, Jigawa, Kwara, Sokoto and Adamawa States (Busari et al.,  2000; Ojehomon et al., 1996). The exact total land under cultivation is not known but estimated at 25–35,000 ha of which industrial cane covers about 12,000 ha (Busari, 2004). The production of industrial cane in estates is witnessing  a decline,  while local  farmers in more states especially in Northern Nigeria are into chewing cane production.

Sugarcane, a member of the Poaceae family, is a perennial crop with a high self-tolerance of   drought,   grown   throughout   the   tropical   and   subtropical   regions   of   the   world (Rouchecouste, 1967). It is a C4 plant with a high rate of photosynthesis (around 150-200 % above the average for other plants). The average number of tillers  is  between 4-12 stems, depending on the variety and site conditions, which can grow up to 2-3 metres in height. The sugar content (saccharose) fluctuates between 11 % and 16 % (Busari, 2004). There are two major types of sugarcane grown in Nigeria, the soft  chewing and the hard commercial or industrial cane.   The two have distinct  characteristics.  The chewing type is usually more robust, having softer stem with higher water and less sucrose content. While the industrial or commercial type has relatively thin and hard stem, thick ring (nodes) and usually with higher percent brix and less water content (Busari et al., 1995).

The cultivation of the crop is restricted to between 350 North and South of the equator and it is propagated by stem cutting into sett and each sett contains 2–3 buds (Facounnier, 1993). The basic  requirement  for good  germination,  growth  and ripening  are warm  temperature between 250C and 300C with an optimum daily temperature of 280C. The  plant requires a well -drained, loamy or loam – clay soil with adequate water supply of about 1600 mm of annual rainfall and can be grown under irrigation with a dry  season  period of about 3–5 months (Halliday, 1956). It requires a pH of 6.0 – 7.0 (Lakshmikathan, 1983) Sugarcane is one of the most significant commercial and cash crops grown by farmers in countries of the tropics (Alvaris, 2008). Most recently, considerable amount of research has been directed at increasing biomass production of sugarcane. Sugarcane is  used for sugar production,  molasses  for  livestock  feeds,  alcohol  production,  bagasses  used  as  fuel  for cooking and trash used for mulching and as organic fertilizer (Akobundu, 1987).  In Brazil, sugarcane is readily available forage for dairy cattle.   Sugarcane is used as strategic forage particularly in the dry season to prevent  overgrazing of the pasture (Aroeira et al., 1993).

Chewing sugarcane can locally be processed into mazarkwaila and alewa for drinking akamu and gari (Busari et al., 1995). Presently, industrial cane is used as a biofuel. In Nigeria, the production  of this crop is presently in the hands of local farmers  and  sugar-estates  with average yields of between 20 and 60 tons per hectare, which is low compared to over 100 tons/ha obtained in the United States and Cuba (Fadayomi,  1996).   According to Rao and Sharma (1981), poor yield of sugarcane is mostly due to varietal effect, poor weed control and crop nutrition.

The  application  of nutrients  either  as chemical  fertilizers  or organic  manure  reduced Striga infestation and improved crop yield (Oworu, 1988).  Thus, the usual practice is to coral livestock on the field after harvest (Randall and Bandel, 1987).  In sandy soils, especially in upland ecologies, loss of mineral nutrients, water and  herbicides through leaching is very high thereby making the soil unproductive (Busari et al., 2000).  Poor growth performance of chewing sugarcane was observed by Gana and Busari (2001) when inorganic fertilizer at the recommended rate of    120 N – 60 P2O5 – 90 K2O kg/ha was applied to chewing sugarcane at Badeggi.   Rao and Sharma (1981)  observed poor canopy formation of sugarcane in a low

nutrient  soil  which  resulted  in  poor  weed  control.    In  developing  countries,  continuous cropping on an area over a long period result in the depletion of soil nutrients to the detriment of  the  agricultural  crops.  The  use  of  fertilizers  therefore  becomes  imminent.  Inorganic fertilizers were therefore employed  to supply lost nutrients as  nutrient uptake varies with crops. Inorganic fertilizers are costly and mostly not  available.  High cost and scarcity of inorganic fertilizers in developing countries led to renewed interest in the use of unorthodox organic materials as nutrient source for the cultivation of nutrients demanding crops (Ahmed et al., 2007). Nutrient budget for sub Saharan Africa shows a net annual depletion of N, P and K as a result of long term cropping, with little or no external nutrient inputs (Agboola, 1995). The application of organic materials is needed not only to replenish lost nutrients but also to improve  the  physical,  chemical  and  biological  properties  of  soil  ecologies,  which  will enhance performance of the soil and sufficient utilization of the applied inputs.  According to Robinson and Falusi (1974), manures increase organic matter content, water holding capacity and  plant  nutrients  in  the  soil.    It  also  increases  the  efficacy  of  mineral  fertilizers  by improving physical properties of the soil.  Soils incorporated with farm yard manure (FYM) contain enough suitable phosphoric acid, potash and lime (Ahn, 1979).  Farmers in the Sudan Savanna zone use a lot of organic fertilizer for their crop production because of high cost of inorganic fertilizer (Mainasara, 1987).  Even prior to the introduction of mineral fertilizers in Nigeria some 80 years ago, manure, compost and FYM were particularly the early source of nutrients to crop (Rao and Sharma, 1981).

It  is  therefore  imperative  that  sound  soil  and  crop  management  practices  that  are environmentally friendly are to be adopted to improve soil fertility for effective weed control and for the purpose of sustaining sugarcane production. Sugarcane is mostly propagated in Guinea Savanna zone of Nigeria through planting of the top of harvested cane. This restricts the farm sizes and had reduced the ability to increase production levels. Most often where the crop is planted, it is scorched in the field due to intensive heat.  The outcome of this work will  provide  sugarcane  farmers  information  on the  best  part  of sugarcane  to be used as planting material thereby increasing sugarcane production.

The objectives of this study were to: –

i.   Determine  the effect of different  mulching  materials  and polythene  colour on  the growth and yield of sugarcane.

ii.  Assess the effect of harvesting time on quality of sugarcane.

iii. Determine the growth performance of sugarcane under different watering intervals.

iv. Evaluate  various parts of sugarcane  cutting that could be recommended  for  better sugarcane production.

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