Agriculture and Sugarcane Cultivation
Agriculture and Sugarcane Cultivation is the technical heart of the Cane Supervisor post. Questions test the crop’s climate and soil needs, planting methods, seed rate, nutrition, irrigation, pests and diseases, and harvesting.
Crop requirements
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is a tropical, long-duration crop. It performs best at 26–32°C with 100–125 cm rainfall and deep, well-drained loam of pH 6.5–7.5. Uttar Pradesh is India’s largest sugarcane producer, but yields and recovery vary by region and variety.
Planting and package of practices
- Seasons: autumn (September–October, about 12 months), spring (February–March, 10–12 months), and adsali (July–August, about 18 months, mainly in Maharashtra).
- Seed: three-bud setts, about 35,000–40,000 setts per hectare, row spacing 75–90 cm, seed cane 6–8 t/ha. Treat setts against fungal disease.
- Nutrition: FYM 10–15 t/ha plus nitrogen around 150–250 kg/ha in splits, with phosphorus, potassium and zinc as required.
- Water: 6–8 irrigations; germination, tillering and grand growth are critical stages.
- Management: trash mulching, interculture, propping, de-trashing and timely ratoon management.
Worked example
How many three-bud setts are needed for 1 hectare at 75 cm row spacing and 30 cm sett spacing? Area per sett = 0.75 × 0.30 = 0.225 m². One hectare = 10,000 m². Therefore 10,000 ÷ 0.225 ≈ 44,444 setts. This is why commercial recommendations are expressed as a range; closer spacing raises seed cost but can improve cane population.
Pests and diseases
Major pests include early shoot borer, top borer, pyrilla, woolly aphid and termites. Red rot (Colletotrichum falcatum) is the most destructive disease, followed by smut, grassy shoot and ratoon stunting. The popular high-sugar variety Co 0238 is susceptible to red rot, a fact frequently tested.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing adsali with autumn planting.
- Treating ratoon as a no-cost crop; stubble shaving, gap filling, trash mulching and fertiliser are essential.
- Mixing cane yield (t/ha) with sugar recovery (%).
- Assuming all high-sugar varieties are disease-resistant.