NEW CANE VARIETIES
TO TURN TIDE
New Delhi, 22 December 2006
NEW DELHI, December 23 (INFA): Sugarcane
growers can improve productivity substantially by supplementing the chemical
fertilizers with bio-fertilisers and farm yard manure and switching over to
newly-developed cane varieties.
Recently, several new varieties with high-yield potential
and resistance to diseases, have been identified for commercial
cultivation. Among them, two of the
varieties can withstand drought and are capable of producing high yields even
in water-logged or saline conditions. At the annual workshop at Pantnagar Agriculture University,
scientists have recommended them for general cultivation in the country’s
different cane-growing regions.
These varieties were developed by the national agricultural
research system under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The
yield potential of the identified varieties ranges from 75 quintal to over 116
quintal a hectare in different zones against the country’s average yield of 71
quintal a hectare. Their sucrose content is also high, ranging from 17.5 per
cent to 20.48 per cent.
Among them, Neeraj and Damodar are high-yielding types
recommended for Tamil Nadu, interior Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They are also tolerant to drought and soil
salinity. The Neeraj variety has the additional advantage to withstand
water-logging as well. The yield potential of Neeraj is pegged at 111.5 quintal
a hectare and that of Damodar at 116.7 quintal a hectare.
The varieties recommended for growing in the north-western
sugar belt comprising Punjab, Haryana, western and central Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal include CoJ 20193, CoH 119, Mithas, Karan-1 and Sweety. Most of the
new varieties are resistant to the most common sugarcane disease called red
rot. These would provide cane cultivators in the country an alternative to the
popular, but aging, varieties like CoS 767 and
CoJ 64. Some of these types take less
time to mature to be able to fit in the prevalent wheat-paddy cropping
sequence.
To ensuring optimum crop productivity, scientists have
suggested the use of full recommended dose of chemical fertilizers along with a
quantity of farm-yard manure that contains an equivalent of 25 per cent of the
nitrogenous dose. Besides, they have
advised them to use biofertilisers like Azotobacter and phosphate solubilising
bacterium.
For the ratoon crop which comes up from the existing roots
after cane harvesting, too, the experts have suggested application of full dose
of chemical fertilizers and bio-fertilisers along with incorporation of the
crop residues (trash) into the land to improve soil health. India, which at one stage had become the world’s
largest sugar producer, has since slipped to the second place, conceding the
top slot to Brazil.
However, the cane productivity varies widely in different
parts of India.
The yields are far higher in the tropical zone (South
India) than in the sub-tropical (north-western) region. As a
result, the sub-tropical northern States, despite accounting for nearly 65 per
cent of the country’s total cane acreage, contribute only a little over 60 per
cent to the total production.
There are about 450 sugar mills which depend on the cane
growers for their raw material. The availability of cane strains with higher
sucrose content will facilitate better sugar recover in these mills. ----INFA
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