Indian Journal of Agronomy 50 (3) : 23 1-235 (September 2005)
Integrated nutrient management for sustainable cane production
THOMAS MATHEW AND KURUVILLLA VARUGHESE1
Sugarcane Research Station, Kerala ~ ~ r i c u l t u rUniversity,
al Thiruvalla, Kerala 689 102
Received : May 2004
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted during the crop season of 1998-99 and 1999-2000, to study the influence
of integrated use of organic sources with different levels of mineral nutrients. Integrated use of pressmud at 5
tonnestha with NPK application @ 100% of the recommended dose influenced the yield attributes, nutrient up-
take and remarkably increased the cane yield. It was comparable with conjuctive use of pressmud @ 5tonnestha
with NPK @ 100% of the recommended dose. But the magnitude of variation in cane yield was only marginal.
Hence, it was possible to save 25% of the recommended dose of NPK when pressmud was applied 8 5 tonnest
ha. There was a drastic decrease in cane growth and cane yield when resorted to mineral nutrition alone. The
juice quality also improved when organic sources were integrated with mineral nutrients.
Key words :Organic sources, Mineral nutrition, Yield attributes, Cane yield, Nutrient uptake, Juice quality
In Kerala, the scenario of sugarcane cultivation is con- tonnesha (T,), green manuring with intercropped cow-
fined to the deltaic belts of rivers, viz. Pampa, Manimala pea (T,), application of Acetobacter diazotrophicus at 10
and Achenkovil, coming under Alleppey, Pathanamthitta kglha (T,) and application of Azospirillum brasilense 10
and Kottayain districts, semi-arid tracts of Palghat and in kgha (T,). Under mineral nutrition, the treatments were
the high ranges of Idukki district. There exists a gap be- NPK application at 50% (F,), 75% (F,) and 100% (F,) of
tween the genetic potential yield and actual yield achieved. the recommended dose. Green manuring was taken up
This yield gap has to be narrowed and bridged. The major with cowpea 'C-152' in the interspaces of sugarcane and
constraints for achieving potential yield is the problems as- incorporated @ 45 days after planting (DAP).
sociated with soil fertility. The long-term experiments con- Azospirillurn brasiliense was applied as soil inoculation.
ducted on manures and fertilizers in sugarcane proved that While in the case of Acetobacter diazotrophicus, prior to
neither the chemical fertilizer alone nor the organic planting the setts were treated with 50% of the biofertilizer
sources exclusively can achieve production sustainability and the remaining was applied as pocket application at 45
of soil and crop (Singh and Biswas, 2000). However, the DM.
integrated use of organics with inorganic can restore and The soil was entisol, acidic reaction, medium in available
sustain soil fertility and productivity. The present study N and available K and low in available P. The test variety
was undertaken to economize the use of mineral fertilizer used for the study was 'Madhuri'. The trash, green tops
through integrated nutrient management and to formulate and stem obtained at harvest through destructive sampling
a sustainable production technology by integrating organic, were used for finding out the dry-matter production and
inorganic and biological sources of nutrients for maximum chemical analysis of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu (Jack-
cane yield. son, 1973). The crop was raised as per package of prac-
tices recommendations with exception to the manurial
MATERIALS AND METHODS
schedule.
The experiment was laid out in a strip-plot design dur-
ing the crop season of 1998-99 and 1999-2000 at Sugar- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
cane Research Station, Thiruval1a;with 6 organic sources Effect of organic sources
in strip 1 and 3 fertilizer levels in strip I1 constituting 18 Organic sources had significant impact on yield at-
treatments combinations with 4 replications. The organic tributes, cane yield, nutrient uptake and juice quality
sources consisted of control (T,), application of (Tables 1, 2 and 3). Among the organic sources,
pressmud @ 5 tonnesha (T,), application of trash @ 10 pressinud application (T,) appreciably increased the cane
Present address : 'Cropping System Research Centre, Karamana, Kerala 695 002
Table 1. Effect of organic sources and mineral nutrition on yield attributes and cane yield w
N
N
Treatment Cane girth Cane length Single cane weight Millable cane count Cane yield
(cm) (cm) (g) ('000) (tonneslha)
First plant Second plant First plant Second plant First plant Second plant First plant Second plant First plant Second plant
crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop
Details of treatments are given under Materials and Methods
September 20051 INM FOR SUSTAINABLE CANE PRODUCTION 233
Table 2. Effect of organic sources and mineral nutrition on juice quality
Treatment Juice recovery Sucrose CCS SMT brix Reducing sugar Titrable acidity
(%> (%) (%) (%> (%) (ml of 0.1 NaOH 1OO/m)
First Second First Second First Second First Second First Second First Second
plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant
crop crop crop crop crop . c r o p crop crop crop crop crop crop
T, 53.6 54.9 15.4 15.7 10.9 l l . O r . - 16.1 17.4 1.0 1.0 12.9 13.1
T2 55.9 58.8 15.6 16.8 11.2 11.9 16.3 17.9 0.9 0.8 10.7 11.3
T3 55.0 57.9 15.1 15.7 11.0 11.1 16.06 17.4 1.1 1.0 12.3 12.1
T4 56.0 58.6 15.9 16.6 11.3 11.6 16.8 18.5 1.0 0.8 12.1 11.9
T5 55.3 57.2 15.9 16.6 11.1 11.5 17.4 18.4 0.9 0.8 10.7 11.1
T~ 56.7 59.9 16.1 16.7 11.6 12.0 16.7 17.7 0.9 0.8 9.3 10.6
CD (P = 0.05) 1.62' 1.06" 0.61' 0.61' NS 0.37" 0.83" NS 0.06" 0.06" 1.01" 0.92"
F, 54.8 56.9 15.6 16.2 11.1 11.4 17.0 17.9 1.0 0.9 11.0 11.1
F2 55.5 58.2 15.6 16.5 11.1 11.6 16.5 18.1 1.0 0.9 11.7 11.9
F3
56 58.5 15.8 16.3 11.3 11.6 16.8 17.6 0.9 0.9 11.3 12.0
CD (P=0.05) 0.86 0.93' NS NS NS 0.37" NS NS NS 0.04" NS 0.68"
Details of treatments are given under Materials and Methods
girth, cane length, canesweight, millable cane count and quality parameters of cane juice (Perumal, 1999; Sharma
resulted in the highest cane yield. It was superior to all et al., 1999).
other organic sources and it was closely followed by
Azospirillum inoculation (T,). The treatment without or- Effect of mineral nutrition
ganic sources (T,) recorded the lowest values for yield Application of NPK at 100% (F,) of the recommended
attributes as well as cane yield. The total uptake of N, P dose influenced the yield attributes, cane yield, nutrient
and K was highest in treatments,with pressmud applica- uptake and recorded the highest value. It was statistically
tion (T,). While Azospirillum inoculation remarkably in- superior to NPK application at 75% (F,) and 50% (F,).
creased the uptake of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu. But in the case of juice quality, the treatment effects due to
~ p ~ l i c a t i oofnpressmud results in the release of major mineral nutrition was significant only for juice recovery in
and minor nutrients when it undergoes mineralization. This both plant crops. While CCS per cent, reducing sugar and
would have increased the availability of plant nutrients and titrable acidity were significant only in second plant crop.
addition of organic matter to the [Link] a result of this, There is no second opinion that chemical fertilizers
the fertility status of the soil increased and the absorption contribute a major share for enhancing the productivity of
of plant nutrients might have also increased. The above cane. The steady supply of plant nutrients in adequate
factors might have favourbaly influenced the cane growth quantities increased the availability of plant nutrients in the
and attributed to the production of lengthier, thicker and soil and mediates favourable environment for the absorp-
heavier canes. The increased rate of cane growth coupled tion of nutrients. This again exerts positive effects on
with better expression of yield attributes might have attrib- growth and development of cane. The results are in con-
uted for enhancing the cane yield in pressmud-applied and formity with the findings of Bangar et al. (2000).
Azospirillum-inoculated plots. The results are in agree-
ment with the findings of Sharma et al. (1999), Rao and Interaction
Veeranna (1999) and Nagaraju et al. (2000). The interaction effect between organic sources and
While with juice quality, Azospirillum inoculation (T,) mineral nutrition was significant for yield attributes, cane
invariably increased the value of juice recovery, sucrose yield and nutrient uptake of F, K, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu
content and CCS per cent. But recorded lower values for (Tables 1, 3). However, the interaction effect was non-
titrable acidity and reducing sugar. Bio-fertilizers are ca- significant for any of the juice parameters studied. Inte-
pable of synthesizing growth hormones and growth regu- grated use of pressmud with mineral nutrition at 100% of
lators in addition to the fixation-of N. The pl~ytohormones the recommended dose of NPK (T,F,) recorded maxi-
and other growth-regulatorsliberated in .the treatment un- mum values for yield attributes, total uptake of NPK and
der Azospirillum inoculation (T,) might have produced resulted in the highest cane yield. It was closely followed
favourable effects in the soil for cane growth and nutrient by pressmud application with mineral nutrition at 75%
uptake. This might have contributed for improving the (T2F2)and Azospirillum inoculation with mineral nutrition
Table 3. Effect of organic sources and mineral nutrition on the uptake of major and micronutrients l . tw
A
Treatment Total uptake of Total uptake of Total uptake of Total uptake of Total uptake of Total uptake of Total uptake of
N(kgm - P (kgha)
- K (kg/ha) Fe (kg/ha) , Mn (kgiha) Zn (kdha) Cu (kg/ha)
First Second First Second First Second First Second First Second First Second First Second
plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant plant
crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop crop
Details of treatments are given under Materials and Methods o
VI
September 20051 INM FOR SUSTAINABLE CANE PRODUCTION 235
at 100% of the recommended dose of NPK (T,F,). The ciation of nitrogen and press mud cake on growth, yield, nu-
total uptake of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu increased with soil in- trient uptake and quality prameters of sugarcane. Crop Re-
oculation ofAzospirillum at 10 kgha in combination with search (Hisar) 19 (2) : 255-259.
NPK at 100% of the recommended dose (T,F,). Jackson, M.L. 1973. Soil Chemical Analysis. p. 1 4 9 8 . Prentice p.
It was observed that integration of pressmud with Hall of India (P.) Ltd, New Delhi.
NPK application at 100% of the recommended dose had Meade, G.P. and Chen, G.C.P. 1977. Cane Sugar Hand Book, edn
increased the cane yield to the tune of 4.5 1% compared to -:10, p. 947. John Wiley, New York, USA.
pressmud application at 5 tonnesha with mineral nutrition Nagaraju, M.S., Shankariah, C. and Ravindra, U. 2000. Effect of in-
at 75%. But the magnitude of variation was only marginal. tegrated use of fertilizers with sulphitation pressmud and
Hence it is possible to save 25% of the recommended dose Azotobacter on growth and yield. Co-operative Sugar
of NPK. 3 (5) : 391-395.
Intensive cultivation without the addition of organic Perumal, K.R. 1999. Comparative quality of cane and matured sugar
sources affects the productivity of soil. It is well realized of cane growth with organic and chemical base. (In) Proceed-
that substantial qantities of chemical fertilizers applied to ings 61 Annual Convention STAT, held at Ooty during 7-9
the soil are not amenable to the plants. A sizeable portion September 1999.
is lost by various mechanisms operating in soil. Integrated Rao, S. and Veeranna, V.S. 1999. Substitution of inorganic nitrogen
use of organic sources with chemical fertilizer enables to through local organic manures in sugarcane. Journal of
conserve the nutrients, release of nutrients at slower rate Maharashtra Agricultural Universities 23 (2) : 104-106.
and improves the physico-chemical and biological condi- Sharma, B.L., Prasad, K., Singh, P.K., Sharma, S. and Singh, S.B.
tion of soil. This could be the reason for the treatments 1999. Sulphitation press mud cake in sugarcane. (In) Inte-
with chemical fertilizer application alone to record reduced grated approach with inorganic nitrogen. Indian Journal of
levels of cane production. Agricultural Chemistry 32 (1,2) : 1-5.
Singh, G.B. and Biswas, B.P. 2000. Balanced and integrated nutrient
REFERENCES management for sustainable crop production. Limitations
Bangar, K.S., Parmar, B.B. and Maini, Asok. 2000. Extent of asso- and future strategies. Fertiliser News 45 (5) : 5 5 4 0 .
