Biofertilizer Replace Urea as a Source of Nitrogen for Sugarcane Production

Abstract

In this study, different nitrogen doses (0, 16, 48, 64, 80, and 96 kg ha−1) from two sources, biofertilizer (from anaerobic digestion of cattle wastewater) and urea, were applied to cultivate two sugarcane varieties (RB 867515 and SP 803280). °Brix values higher than 21% were obtained with application of 80 kg ha−1 from biofertilizer. The mean productivity of the cultivar RB 867515 using biofertilizer was 147.5 ton ha−1, while from urea it was 136.87 ton ha−1. The cultivar SP 803280 produced an average yield of 152.25 ton ha−1 when applying biofertilizer and 154.37 ton ha−1 with use of urea. Significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) between the use of biofertilizer and urea were detected for cultivar RB 867515 in terms of crude protein concentration. The application of 80 kg of N ha−1 was considered the ideal dose, corresponding to fertirrigation blades of 54 mm of biofertilizer. The experiment showed that the biofertilizer formulation analyzed can replace urea as a nitrogen source for growing sugarcane.