Genesis:

• First started during 1955 at Palur, Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India
• Later shifted and established in 1957 at Cuddalore.
• Functioning as a lead center for Sugarcane Research in Tamil Nadu

About the Research Station:

The Research Station is situated within the municipal limits at Semmandalam, Cuddalore. It is 1.5 km away from Cuddalore Bus Stand and Railway station on Cuddalore – Panruti road. It has an extent of 44.1 hectares and located at latitude 11.46’N Longitude 79o48’E.  The altitude is 4.6 m MSL.  The soil type is clayey loam with pH of 7.2 and irrigated by bore wells.  The annual mean rainfall is 1210 mm.

The major disciplines functioning are Plant Breeding, Agronomy, Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural Entomology, Plant Pathology, Crop Physiology, Agricultural Microbiology and Forestry.

Objectives:

Technologies :

AGRONOMY

SOIL SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY

AGRICULTURAL MICROBIOLOGY

CROP PHYSIOLOGY

AGRICULTURAL ENTOMOLOGY

White grub, Holotrichia serrata incidence is more prevalent in Dharmapuri, Erode and Coimbatore districts.

PLANT PATHOLOGY

NEMATOLOGY

FORESTRY

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

Economically viable & adoptable sugarcane cultivation technologies to be followed to increase the productivity level of sugarcane

We are facing the constraints of inadequate availability of land for diversification to commercial crops like sugarcane in the context of the need to reserve more areas for food production to meet the ever growing demand of food crops especially cereals, pulses and oil seeds.  Under this situation of impossibility to take up a horizontal growth in the area, we have no other option but to aim for vertical growth viz., increasing the cane productivity per ha per unit time.  We are not in dearth of any technology to achieve this goal of vertical growth in cane productivity but the problem lies in its implementation in the field to achieve the results.

Varietal Cafeteria

Sugarcane and sugar production in our country is influenced by complex factors like area under cane, variety grown, cane yield, sugar recovery, crop management practices, climatic factors, damage due to pests and diseases, prevailing price of sugarcane and its impact on gur and khandsari production.  Among these, the most eagerly sought after non monetary input is varietal substitution.  Creation of a sugar variety to suit different objectives is not an easy task.  Release of high sugar variety is of paramount importance in sugarcane cultivation to realize high recovery besides higher productivity.  Zone wise testing and release of varieties suitable for different agro climatic region will pave way for stabilizing both sugar recovery and sugarcane production.

DETAILS OF SUGARCANE VARIETIES RELEASED FROM SUGARCANE RESEARCH STATION, CUDDALORE

The latest sugarcane variety CoC (SC) 23 is a derivative of the general cross from the pistil parent 69 A 591.  It was tested as clone C 960696 in Advanced Yield Trial (AYT) and Coordinated Agronomic Experiments (CAE) from 2002 – 2005.  The variety was also extensively tested in 16 sugar factories and 8 research stations as special MLT under the “Sugarcane Cess Fund scheme” during the years 2002 – 2005.

The clone 960696 was nominated to the All India Coordinated Research Project on Sugarcane (AICRP(S)) as CoC 01–061 for testing.  Based on the overall performance in AICRP(S), the test clone CoC 01-061 (Clone No. C 960696) was released for East Coast Zone.

CoC (SC) 23 recorded higher cane and sugar yield both in plant and ratoon crops.  It was tested in 157 trials throughout the state, and found to be superior to the standards Co 86032, Co 86249 and CoC 98061.

In Advanced Yield Trial conducted in 8 Research Stations, the variety CoC (SC) 23 recorded 131.8 t/ha of cane yield with 13.4% CCS%.  It registered 18.62% higher sugar yield than the standard Co 86032.   The overall performance of the variety in all the centres confirmed an increase of 19.43% cane yield over the standard Co 86249.

Besides higher cane yield and quality, the variety CoC (SC) 23 is medium thick, tall growing, erect and non-lodging.  Hence, it is highly suitable for pit method of planting, drip irrigation system and mechanical harvesting.  Also, it gives great scope for co-generation and paper industries with 12.52% fibre content.  The variety CoC (SC) 23 is also moderately resistant to red rot.  It possesses thicker leaves (SLA 71 cm2/g) with higher Relative Water Content (82%) indicating its tolerance to drought compared to the ruling variety Co 86032.

Thus, the above said desirable features of the early clone C 960696 have paved the way to release as a new sugarcane variety “ CoC (SC) 23” for enhanced cane and sugar production under commercial cultivation in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry during 2006.

Special Features of the variety

Use of Nursery Seed Cane

The physical admixtures in sugarcane crop reduce the total yield and quality besides spreading contagious diseases and pests.  It is also difficult to search upon the admixtures under field condition and thus needs greater emphasis on seed selection and quality of the seed for planting.

Generally the farmers take only the top one-third portion of the matured cane for preparation of setts.  Since the fully grown cane contains more of sucrose it is always advisable to obtain seed material from nursery crop of age 6-8 months.  The studies conducted at Sugarcane Research Stations revealed that use of nursery cane instead higher cane yield and commercial cane sugar per cent. 

Seed treatment

Trash mulching

After sugarcane planting the cane trash is spread to a height of 10cm on the ridges on 3rd day of planting in sandy soil and 21 days after planting in clay soil.  The furrows shout not be covered with cane trash.   The chief advantages of trash mulching include conservation of moisture, control of weeds, lesser attack of early shoot borer, soil enrichment with added trash and ultimate improvement in cane yield to the tune of 10 t/ha. 

Trash mulching on cane yield

Trash mulching on ESB Incidence

Intercropping

The wider row spacing adopted for sugarcane envisages the possibility of raising one more crop as intercrop in between the two cane rows.  Generally, pulses viz., green gram / black gram are raised as intercrops.  In some places groundnut is also raised as intercrop.  The intercrops in addition to fetching additional income, act as live mulch and conserves moisture.  They also minimize the attack of early shoot borer.  Besides enriching the soil by way of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, the bulky organic matter added to the soil after the harvest of the intercrop improves the soil fertility status. 

Blackgram as intercrop

Intercrops	Cane yield (t/ha)	Yield of intercrops (kg/ha)	Net income  (Rs./ha)	BCR
Sugarcane alone	105.4		27,872	1.57
SC + Blackgram	104.3	374	32,544	1.64
SC + Soyabean	96.9	368	23,699	1.47
SC + Green gram	94.7	258	22,157	1.44
SC + groundnut	95.7	484	25.275	1.49
SC + Sunhemp	113.3	8,675	32,731	1.66
SC + Cowpea	91.1	262	19,598	1.39
CD (p =0.05)	11.4

Sunhemp as intercrop

 Addition of nitrogen through intercrops

Control of early shoot borer through intercrops

Detrashing

Generally, 40- 45 leaves are produced from a single cane stalk.  But only the top 8-10 leaves are photo synthetically functional leaves and the rest offers place for multiplication of pest and diseases.  Moreover, the transpiration loss of water through these leaves also takes place.  During the rainy season, the rain water gets gathered in the sheath portion that helps in profuse sprouting of the buds which is undesirable.  Hence removal of dried and matured leaves is done at the age of 5th and 7th month.  The removed trashes can be converted as compost or else the same can be arranged in alternate cane rows for conservation of soil moisture.

Detrashing on incidence of INB, Mealy beg, White fly and Leaf hopper

Weed management in sugarcane

Sugarcane yield is severely affected by the presence of weeds.  The wider row spacing between cane rows, initial slow growth, heavy application of fertilizers and frequent irrigation encourages the growth of weeds.  The weeds compete for land, moisture, sun light and other nutrients and reduces the cane yield.  Depending upon the severity of weed infestation the cane growth is affected as follows:-

The initial 90 days period of the crop growth is considered as most critical.  In the plant crop, the three week period from 4th and 6th week after planting is highly critical.  Because this is the stage when the shoot roots develop and take over the functions of the sett/anchoring roots.  Then onwards it is the tillering phase when weed competition affects tillering and thus shoot population.  A crop weed competition study on sandy loam soil revealed that sugarcane needs a weed free period of 66 days.  The critical period however depends upon various factors such as the location, weed flora, the crop variety and the management practices.

Weed management

Management of Cyprus rotundus

Management of creeper weeds

At present, creeper weed is found to affect the cane yield in a drastic manner.  The harvesting operation is also becoming tedious due to the presence of creeper weeds.  Yield reduction of 15-25%  is registered due to the infestation of creeper weeds.  Post emergence directed spraying of 2,4-D sodium salt at 0.2% +1% urea effectively controls the climber weeds.

Water management

Rapid depletion of the fresh water resources coupled with ever increasing demand for water in all sectors have led to the acute competition for irrigation water in many countries. The situation is still more alarming in India, where the population is increasing at an alarming rate.  In Tamil Nadu where there are no originating or perennial river systems, scarcity of irrigation water is felt so acute and thus warrants scientific management of the available water resources. An estimate indicates the water need for sugarcane to be around 125 tonnes for the production of 1 tonne of cane.  Only 30-35% of the cane grown in India is raised with amended water supply and in future there is every possibility of further reduction in the availability owing to many reasons.   Since efficient use of irrigation water is of paramount importance for sustainable agricultural development, drip irrigation system is gaining importance, where 40-60 percent water could be saved with 80-90 percent use efficiency.

Since the installation cost of the drip system for the conventionally  planted cane is much higher, the cane is to be planted in the new system of planting i.e. paired row planting technique or in pit method of planting so that the cost of the drip system could be reduced to half.  In paired row system of planting only 42% of the area is cultivated and the irrigation water is applied to the root zone only by the drip irrigation method.  Moreover, unlike the minimum split application of fertilizer in normal planting, the application of fertilizer through drip can be prolonged upto 7th month in as many as 14 split application without affecting the cane quality.  The cane yield is also increased by 30-40%. 

Paired row planting of sugarcane

The studies conducted at Sugarcane Research Station, Cuddalore to evaluate different planting systems of sugarcane, arrive at optimum spacing between two paired rows and to assess the yield potential of different sugarcane varieties under the drip method of irrigation and fertigation, revealed that planting the setts in the parallel row spacing of 30+30+30+105 cm (148.6 mt /ha) or 30+30+30+120 cm (147.1 mt /ha) is highly advantageous in terms of higher cane and sugar yields. The cane yield decreased with increase in row spacing from 105 cm to 165 cm. Among the cultivars CoC (SC) 23 registered the maximum cane yield of 140.4mt/ ha followed by CoSi (SC) 6 and CoC (SC) 22 with 137.6 and 132.6 mt cane yield/ ha respectively.  The yield increase in CoC (SC) 23 over CoSi (SC) 6 and CoC (SC) 22 was 2.0% and 5.9% respectively. The variety CoC (SC) 23 registered the maximum sugar output of 19.9 mt /ha.  Among the planting systems, parallel row spacing at 105 cm produced the maximum of 19.28 mt sugar yield/ ha followed by the row spacing of 120 cm with sugar output of 19.15 mt/ ha

Pit method of planting

The pit method of planting introduced by the IISR, Lucknow in late 1980’s has picked up now due to the development of drip irrigation system.  The main advantages of pit system of planting includes:-

Variety suitable for pit method of planting

Among the two varieties evaluated viz., CoC (SC) 23 and Co 86032, CoC (SC) 23 registered higher cane yield and sugar yield.  The erect nature of CoC (SC) 23 is highly suitable for pit method of planting.

Ratoon management 

Ratooning is an integral part of sugarcane cultivation practiced in almost all the sugarcane growing countries of the world.  In India, nearly 15%-30% of the cane area is always under ratoon.  The chief advantages of rationing includes:-

Inspite of added advantages of the ratoon crop, the farmers are harvesting only poor ratoons for the following reasons:-

Important cultural operations to enhance ratoon cane yields
1. Do not burn trash
After harvest of the plant crop, the trashes left in the field may be collected for making trash compost out side the field.  If wider row spacing is adopted the trash can be incorporated in to the field by working mini tractor.  Burning of trash has to be avoided, since by burning, the buds get damaged, nutrients evaporates into atmosphere, the roots damaged and sprouting reduced and the beneficial micro organisms are destroyed.

2. Stubble shaving
After harvest of the standing cane crop and after removal of the trash an indispensable operation that has to be carried out is stubble shaving.  The stubbles protruding out are to be cut below ground level.  This is done to facilitate healthy underground buds to sprout and establish a deeper root system in the ratoon crop.

Generally the buds above ground level get damaged during harvesting and subsequent cleaning of the field.  Besides, buds would be dry and would have been infected with disease causing organisms.  Thus, if the above buds are allowed to germinate, sprouting would be inadequate to establish a good crop stand.  Besides, the fresh shoot roots also would not be able to enter the hard soil thus affecting absorption of nutrients and water.  This is the reason for  drying up of shoots, inspite of having adequate sprouting.   Hence, stubble shaving is a must for obtaining higher cane yields. 

3. Off barring or shoulder breaking 

Soil compaction is one of the major causes for the poor growth of ratoon cane.  Compaction occurs due to long duration of the crop.   More number of irrigation and also movement of labourers for various field operations let to soil compaction.  Because of the problem, movement of air and moisture within soil is affected.  This in turn affects the development of root system and finally the absorption of nutrients and water from soil.  Off barring is an operation wherein the ridges are broken on either side, to loosen the soil thereby creating a favourable situation for free entry of air.  The older roots are also pruned up and the formation of new roots is made easier which in turn helps in absorption of abundant nutrient and water from soil.

4. Gap filling

Main problem in ratoons is the occurrence of gaps, which when exceed 20%, cause considerable yield loss.  So the gap filling with the stubbles of the same field or with poly bag raised seedlings is a must to obtain higher ratoon yields.

Gapiness on ratoon yield

Method of gap filling

5. Application of additional dose of nitrogen

Since ratoon stubbles sprouting is quicker than plant crop, application of 50 kg N/ha as additional dose aids in the early and vigorous growth of the ratoon crop.    The additional dose can be applied after shoulder breaking and irrigated immediately.

To summarize in a nut shell, some of the important cane management practices which are directly related to increasing the productivity of cane are detailed below.

Contact :

Professor and Head
Sugarcane Research Station,
33-B, Shanmugam Pillai Street,
Cuddalore - 607 001.
Phone : 04142-220630
Fax : 04142-292630
E-mail : arscuddalore@tnau.ac.in