Sugarcane(Saccharum officinarum); Poaceae

Sugarcane is grown in various states in subtropical and tropical regions of the  country. Main sugarcane growing States are: 

a) Subtropical : Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar with an annual  rainfall of 180 to 2000 mm. The climate ranges from humid, moist sub-humid and dry  sub-humid to cold arid, semiarid and arid. 

b) Tropical region: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,  Madhya Pradesh with an annual rainfall of 602 to 3640 mm having moist to dry sub humid and semi-arid to dry semi-arid climates.

• Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum  L is a perennial grass.
• It belongs to bamboo family and it is indigenous to India.
• It is the main source of sugar, jaggery and khandsari.
• About two-thirds of the total sugarcane produced in India is consumed for making jaggery and khandsari and only one third of it goes to sugar factories.
• It also provides raw material for manufacturing alcohol.
• Brazil is largest producer of sugarcane followed by India, China, Thailand, Pakistan and Mexico.
• In India, Maharashtra is largest producer of sugar and it contributes about 34% of sugar in country followed by Uttar Pradesh.

• The canes of this variety are medium thick, greenish yellow color.
• It is tolerant to red rot and frost.
• It performs well under high fertility condition with frequent irrigation.
• Gives average yield of 320 qtl/acre.

• It is early season variety.
• It gives good germination, profuse tillering and good ratooner.
• It produces good quality of jaggery.
• It is highly susceptible to red rot.
• Gives average yield of 300 qtl /acre.

• Mid-season variety.
• It has tall thick greenish canes with prominent weather.
• It is tolerant to red rot and top borer.
• It is an average ratooner.
• Gives average yield of 365 qtl /acre.

• It is suitable for late planting.
• It is resistive to red rot, easy to detrash and non-lodging.
• It gives average yield is 326 qtl /acre.

• Applicable for late sowing.
• Good germinator with profuse tillering, excellent ratooning capacity.
• It produces medium quality jaggery.
• It is highly susceptible to red rot.
• It gives average yield of 375 qtl /acre.

1. It is late maturing variety.

• Early maturing, high sugar content variety.
• It gives moderately resistant to red rot.
• Also having good juice content and maintaining this property for long period.

• Early maturing variety of sugarcane.

• The variety is red rot disease and frost tolerant.
• This variety contains 16-17% of sucrose in November and 18% of sucrose content in December.
• It gives an average cane yield of 335 qtl/acre.
• It gives good quality of jaggery.

• This variety contains 16% of sucrose in November and 19% of sucrose content in December.
• It gives an average cane yield of 400 qtl /acre.

• Well drained, deep, loamy soil with ground water table below 1.5-2 m from the soil surface with adequate water holding capacity is ideal for sugarcane cultivation.
• It can tolerate considerable degree of acidity and alkalinity so it can be grown on soil, ranging from 5 to 8.5.
• If soil is low in pH (less than 5) add lime in soil and for high pH (more than 9.5) do gypsum application.
•  In northern  India, it is cultivated largely on the loams & clay loams of Gangetic & other alluviums, and  in peninsular India, it is grown on brown or reddish loams, laterites and black cotton soils.

• Temperature requirement for different growth stages of sugarcane

  S.No	Critical Stages of   sugarcane	Max. Temp.   (oC)	Min. Temp.   (oC)	Relative   Humidity (%)
  1	Germination	32.0	20.0	–
  2	Tillering	35.0	18.0	–
  3	Grand growth	30.0	14.0	80.85
  4	Ripening	30.0	20.0	50-55

• Temperature – 20-30°C
• Rainfall – 75-150cm
• Sowing Temperature – 20-25°C
• Harvesting Temperature – 20-30°C

• Deep Ploughing with 15 to 30 cm depth for destroy soil borne diseases.
•  Remove all plant debris, weed, previous crop residue in to the field and burn them.
•  After deep ploughing follow harrowing or rotavator operation for the levelling of land and proper aeration or fine tilth.
•  Prepare furrow 60-100 cm apart form optimum growth.
• Divide the field into plots for the proper watering to the field crop.

1. Earthing Up

After application of 3rd dose fertilizer (90 days), work victory plough along the ridges for efficient and economical earthing up. At 150 days after planting, earthing up may be done with spade.

2. Detrashing

     Remove the dry cane leaves on 150th and 210th day to avoid borer infestation

3. Propping

      Do double line propping with trash twist at the age of 210 days of the crop

4.Top Dressing with Fertilizers

Soil application
     
Apply 275 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits at 30, 60 and 90 days in coastal and flow irrigated belts (assured water supply areas). In the case of lift irrigation belt, apply 225 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits at 30, 60 and 90 days (water scarcity areas). For jaggery areas, apply 175 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits on 30, 60 and 90 days

BIOFERTILIZER FOR SUGARCANE

• Azospirillum is the common biofertilizer recommended for N nutrition which could colonize the roots of sugarcane and fix atmospheric nitrogen to the tune of about 50 to 75 kg nitrogen per ha per year. 
• Recently, another endophytic nitrogen fixing bacterium, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus isolated from sugarcane can able to fix more nitrogen than Azospirillum.
• It colonizes throughout the sugarcane and increases the total N content.
•  In soil, it can also colonize the roots and able to solubilize the phosphate, iron and Zn. 
• It can also enhance the crop growth, yield of sugarcane and sugar content of the juice. 
• Since it is more efficient than Azospirillum, this new organism was test- verified in various centres and released as new biofertilizer Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus Biofert-I). Phosphobacteria as P-solubiliser are recommended for sugarcane crop
• 1.Sett treatment with Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus
• Before planting the sugarcane setts can be treated with ten packets (2 kg) per ha of Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus prepared as slurry with 250 L of water.
• Soil application Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus
• Twelve packets (2.4 kg) per ha is recommended for soil application each at 30th, 60th and 90th day after planting under irrigated condition.
• Same method of application can be followed for Phosphobacteria.

• If basal application is not followed apply the same with 30th day, 60th day and 90th day after planting and copiously irrigate the field.
• Biofertilizer treatment should be done just before planting. Immediately plant/ Irrigate after biofertilizer application.
• Do not mix biofertilizer along with chemical fertilizer.
• Reduces 25% of the recommended N to reap the benefits of biofertilizer application.

• Apply 275 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits at 30, 60 and 90 days in coastal and flow irrigated belts (assured water supply areas).
• In the case of lift irrigation belt, apply 225 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits at 30, 60 and 90 days (water scarcity areas).
• For jaggery areas, apply 175 kg of nitrogen and 112.5 kg of K2O/ha in three equal splits on 30, 60 and 90 days.

Nitrogen Saving

a.  Neem Cake Blended Urea:

• Apply 67.5 kg of N/ha + 27.5 kg of Neem Cake at 30 days and repeat on 60 th and 90 th days.

Note: Neem cake blending:  Powder the required quantity of neem cake and mix it with urea thoroughly and keep it for 24 hours. Thus, 75 kg of nitrogen/ha can be saved by this method.

b.  Azospirillum:

• Mix 12 packets (2400 g)/ha of Azospirillum inoculant or TNAU Biofert –1 with 25 kg of FYM and 25 kg soil and apply near the clumps on 30th day of planting.
• Repeat the same on 60th day with another 12 packets (2400 gm).
• Repeat the above on the other side of the crop row on the 90th day (for lift irrigated belt).

c.  Band placement: Open deep furrows of 15 cm depth with hand hoes and place the fertilisers in the form of band and cover it properly.

d.  Subsurface application: Application of 255 kg of Nitrogen in the form of urea along with potash at 15 cm depth by the side of the cane clump will result in the saving of 20 kg N/ha without any yield reduction.

1.Early shoot borer: Chilo infuscatellus snellen

Symptoms-

• Attacked in germination stage upto internodes formations.
• Larva make holes in shoot below the ground level and then enter into it thus causes dead heart.
• It give offensive smell. It is mostly observed in light soil and in dry weather.
• Pest is active from March – June.

Management-

• Avoid late plantation.
• Apply Chlorpyriphos@1litres/acre with 100-150 litres of water over the setts placed on furrows with the help of rosecan.
• Remove dead heart infected plants.
• Give light irrigation and avoid drying of field.

2.White Grub:Holotrichia consanguinea

Symptoms-

• These feed on root system and thus damage to crop.
• Entire drying up of stalks and easily dislodging of cane are main symptoms for white grub infestation.
• They congregate on the nearby trees and feed on their leaves during night.
•  White grubs prefer light clay soils rich in organic matter; aeration; moisture and soil temperature around 25ºC
• Management-
• To destroy beetles spray Imidacloprid@4-6ml/10Ltr of water on plants of nearby sugarcane plants.
• Plough the field and exposes the beetles resting in the soil.
• Do not delay crop sowing.
• Before sowing treat cane with Chlorpyriphos.
• Apply Phorate @ 4kg or carbofuran@13 kg per acre in the soil at or before sowing. In heavily infested fields, flooding is to be done for 48 hrs.
• Do drenching of Clothianidin @40 gm/acre with 400 Ltr of water using cane.

3.Termites: Odontotermes obesus Rhamb

Management-

• Before sowing do cane treatment.
• Dip setts in imidacloprid solution @ 4ml /10 Ltr for 2 min or at time planting spray Chlorpyriphos @ 2litre /acre on setts.

4.Pyrilla: 

Symptoms-

• Severe pest of North India.
• Adult suck leaf sap under the surface of leaves.
• They secretes honey like substance and attract sooty mould fungi, due to this leaves become blackish.
  Management-
• At regular interval, collect and destroy white-puffy egg masses.
• In severe infestation spray with Dimethoate or Acephate@ 1-1.5ml/Ltr of water. 

5.Root borer:

Symptoms-

• Borer enter into root zone of shoot below ground.
• Infestation is high from July onward.
• Due to infestation yellowing of leaves from leaf apex to downwards along the margin is seen.

Management-

• Before sowing do cane treatment with Chlorpyriphos.
• In dry field infestation is low so keep field dry and clean, avoid water logging condition in field.
• Carry out earthing operation at 90 days.
• If infestation is observed in field, do drenching with Chlorpyriphos 20 EC@1Ltr/acre with 100-150 Ltr of water near the root zone or do granular application of Quinalphos@300ml/acre.
• Remove infected cane and destroyed it away from field.

6.Stalk Borer:

Symptoms-

• It is active from July onwards with onset of monsoon.
• Larvae feeds on inner surface of leaf sheath, mid rib and stalk.
• It can attack any region of stalk. Infestation continues from cane formation to harvest.

Management-

• Avoid excess use of nitrogen, keep field clean and provide proper drainage. Provide earthing up to prevent crop from lodging.
• Chemical control is rarely effective.
• Release parasitoid, Cotesia flavipes @ 800 mated females/acre at weekly interval from July to November.

1.Yellow Leaf disease–

Symptoms:            

• This disease affects the 5 to 6 months crop.
• Yellowing of midrib and adjacent laminar region also yellowing.
• Subsequent leaf drying along the mid rib in 3 to 5 leaves from top.
• In matured cane this disease will spreads heavily
• The virus is transmitted by aphids, Melanaphis sacchari and Rhopalosiphum maidis, in a semi-persistent manner.

Management strategies

Cultural method:

• Selection of disease free setts for planting
• Field should be maintain with proper hygiene
• Application proper nutritional management and use resistant varieties.

Chemical method:

• Secondary transmission of the disease by insect vectors can be controlled by application of Malathion(0.1%) or Dimecron (0.2%).
• Soil application of carbofuran @2.0 kg./ha or phorate @ 6.0 kg./ha
• Two sprayings of malathion @ 1.5 kg /ha at monthly intervals during September and October after detrashing of dry leaves.

2.Smut: Ustilago scitaminea

Symptoms:            

• Production of whip like structure ( 25 – 150 cm) from the growing point of the canes.
• Whip covered by translucent silvery membrane enclosing mass of black powdery spores.
• Profuse sprouting of lateral buds with narrow, erect leaves especially in ratoon crop.
• Favourable condition- Monoculturing of sugarcane. Continuous ratooning and dry weather during the tillering stage. 

Identification of Pathogen:

• The fungal mycelium spores are echinulate, light brown and spherical, measuring 6.5 – 8.5 µ in diameter.
• They germinate readily in water, producing 2-3 celled promycelium.
• Sporidia arise terminally or laterally and are hyaline, thin walled, single celled and elliptical to linear.

Management strategies:

Cultural method:

• Growing of resistant and moderately resistant varieties viz., Co 86249, CoG 93076, CoC 22, CoSi 6 and CoG 5
• Discourage ratooning of the diseased crops having more than 10 per cent infection
• Cajanus cajan can be grown as a companion crop between rows of sugarcane, and the secondary spread of the disease is substantially reduced.

Physical method:

• Treating the seed setts with Aerated Steam Therapy (AST) at 50 ºC for 1 hour or in hot water at 50 ºC for 30 minutes or at 52 ºC for 18 minutes
• Roguing of smut whips with gunny bags/polythene bag and dipped in boiling water for 1 hour, and diseased clums must be uprooted and burnt.

Chemical method:

• Sett treatment with fungicides viz., Triadimefon @ 1gm in 1 litre of water or Carbendazim @ 1gm in 1 litre of water for 10 minutes.
• Spray on infected stools with a small amount of a 10% solution of roundup, using a small hand held sprayer.
• In severe cases spray the entire block with glyphosate (360 G/L) at 5-7 lit/ha

3.Rust: Puccinia erianthi

Symptoms:            

• The earliest symptoms are small, elongated yellowish spots that are visible on both leaf surfaces.
• The spots increase in length, turn brown to orange-brown or red-brown in color, which coalesced and formed large, irregular necrotic areas, thus it shows the rusty appearance of leaf.
• This eventually resulted in premature death of the leaves.

Favourable Conditions 

• Temperature of 30˚C. 
• Humidity between 70 and 90 per cent. 
• High wind velocity and continuous cloudiness.  

Management strategies                                           

Cultural method

• The best means of control for sugarcane rust is to grow resistant varieties Use resistant varieties like Co 91010 (Dhanush), Co 87025 (Kalyani)
• Affected leaves should be remove and burn immediately
• Sugarcane grown in fields receiving recent applications of mill mud is typically very prone to rust

Chemical method

• Spray Tridemorph 1.0 litres or Mancozeb 2.0 kg/ha.
• Use dithane M 45 @ 2 g/lit for one spraying.
• Application of triazole or strobilurin or pyraclostrobin fungicide @ 3 g/ lit of water

4.Red Rot:

Symptoms-

• From top, third and fourth leaves show yellowing and drying.
• At later stage show discoloured lesion on rind.
• If split the diseased stalk show reddening of internal tissue.
• A sour and alcoholic smell emanates from the infected cane. 
• Favourable Conditions :
  • Monoculturing of sugarcane. 
  • Successive ratoon cropping. 
  • Waterlogged conditions and injuries caused by insects.

Management-

• To control grow disease resistance varieties.
• Discard cane which show reddening at cut end and at the nodal region.
• Do crop rotation with paddy or with green manure crops.
• If infestation is observed remove the crop and destroyed it away from field. Disinfect soil around the diseased clump with Carbendazim@0.1% solution.

5.Wilt: 

Symptoms-

• Root borer, nematodes, termite, drought and water logging condition cause plant to wilt infection.
• Crown leaves turn yellow and loose turgor and withers.
• Boat shape cavities appears in pith region and crop get shrink.
• It reduces germination and reduces yield.

Management-

• Use disease free setts for planting.
• Do setts treatments with Carbendazim @0.2% + Boric acid@ 0.2% for 10min. Intercropping with onion, garlic and coriander will reduces the wilt disease.

6.Sett rot: Ceratocytis paradoxa

Symptoms:            

• When diseased setts are planted they may rot before germination, or the shoots may die after reaching a height of about 6-12 inches.
• If the affected shoots and setts are examined the central portion of the shoots will be seen discoloured red and the contents of the sett rotting.
• When split opened, the affected setts exhibit pineapple odour.

Favourable Conditions –

• Poorly drained fields. 
• Heavy clay soils 
• Temperature of 25-30o C 
• Prolonged rainfall after planting

Management strategies:

Cultural method:

• Healthy setts should be obtained from disease free fields
• Proper drainage and planting of setts in 1-2 cm depth.
• Avoid deep planting during monsoon season

Chemical Method:

• Dipping the setts in 40 ppm of boron or manganese, or spraying the plants with either of these minor elements reduces the disease intensity.
• sett treatment with fungicide like Bavistin, 0.1 per cent before planting
• Apply carbendazim @ 2gm/lit of water at the root zone area and same as follow at 15 days interval

7.Grassy shoot disease –

Symptoms:            

• Initial symptom appears in the young crop of 3 – 4 months age as thin papery white young leaves at the top of the cane.
• Later, white or yellow tillers appear in large number below these leaves (profuse tillering).
• The cane becomes stunted with reduced internodal length with axillary bud sprouting.

Management strategies

Cultural method:

• Growing resistant varieties viz., Co 86249, CoG 93076 and CoC 22
• Avoid ratooning if Grassy Shoot Disease incidence is more than 15 % in the plant crop
• Uprooted infected plants need to disposed of by burning them.

Physical method:

• Rogue out infected plants in the secondary and commercial seed nursery.
• Treat the setts with aerated steam at 50°C for 1 hour to control primary infection.
• Treating them with hot air at 540C for 8 hours and spraying twice a month with aphicides.

Chemical method

• Spray dimethoate @ 1ml in 1 litre of water to control insect vector
• Apply pesticide methyl-demeton @ 2ml /lit of water for controlling aphids.

1.Nitrogen

Deficiency Symptoms:

• All leaves of sugarcane exhibit a yellow – green colour.
• Die back of older leaves
• Premature drying of older leaves.
• Roots attain a greater length but are smaller in diameter.

Correction Measure :

Soil application of N fertilizer or Foliar spray of Urea 1-2% twice at weekly interval.

2.Phosphorus

Deficiency Symptoms :

• Colour of the leaves in greenish blue or red – purple discolouration on tips and margins, narrow and somewhat reduce in length.
• Reduction in length of sugarcane stalks, diameters of which taper rapidly at growing points.
• Poor or no tillering.
• Decreased shoot / root ratio with restricted root development.

Corrective Measure

Deficiency Symptoms :

Irrigate the crop depending upon the need during different phases of the crop.

Germination phase (0 – 35 days):

• Provide shallow wetting with 2 to 3 cm depth of water at shorter intervals especially for sandy soil for enhancing the germination. 
• Sprinkler irrigation is the suitable method to satisfy the requirement, during initial stages.
• Later, irrigation can be provided at 0.75, 0.75 and 0.50 IW/CPE ratio during tillering, grand growth and maturity phases respectively.
• The irrigation intervals in each phase are given below:

Drip Irrigation:

• Planting setts obtained from 6-7 months old healthy nursery and planted in paired row planting system with the spacing of 30 x 30 x 30 / 150 cm.
• Eight setts per metre per row have to be planted on either sides of the ridge thus making it as four row planting system.
• 12 mm drip laterals have to be placed in the middle ridge of each furrow with the lateral spacing of 240 cm & 8 ‘Lph’ clog free drippers should be placed with a spacing of 75 cm on the lateral lines. 
• The lateral length should not exceed more than 30-40 m.Phosphorus @ 62.5 kg ha-1 has to be applied as basal at the time of planting.
• Nitrogen and Potassium @ 275:112.5 kg ha-1 have to be injected into the system as urea and muriate of potash by using “Ventury” assembly in 10-12 equal splits starting from 15 to 150-180 days after planting.
• Low or medium in nutrient status soil to be given with 50 per cent additional dose of Nitrogen and Potassium.
• Irrigation is given once in three days based on the evapo-transpiration demand of the crop.
• The double side planting of sugarcane with lateral spacing of 120+40 cm under subsurface drip fertigation system improves the yield.