Enhancing Cane and Sugar Productivity and Profitability Through Relay Intercropping of Autumn Sugarcane with Skipped-Row-Planted Rice in Subtropical Climatic Conditions of India

Abstract

The on-farm trials were conducted for two consecutive seasons of 2007–2009 and 2008–2010 using a participatory approach on cultivators’ fields at Bikamau village in Lucknow District of India’s central Uttar Pradesh to explore the feasibility of planting autumn sugarcane at 90-cm row spacing as a relay intercrop in every fifth skipped row of July-transplanted rice at 18-cm row spacing in late September and/or October for enhanced cane and sugar productivity in the Indian subtropics. The cropping system was compared with rice–spring sugarcane and rice–autumn sugarcane. The on-farm trial results revealed that germination (64.4 %) of cane buds, tillers (328,000/ha) and number (155,000/ha), length (225 cm), diameter (2.4 cm) and weight (752 g) of millable cane were markedly better when autumn sugarcane was planted as a relay intercrop in rice in comparison with other cropping systems. Similarly, this cropping system produced the maximum cane (123.4 t/ha) and sugar (14.51 t/ha) along with sugarcane equivalent yields (149.9 t/ha). In turn, relay intercropping system with maximum cane production efficiency of 291 kg/ha/day fetched the highest economic returns (Rs. 262/ha/day) and benefit-to-cost ratio (1.98). Comparing with rice–spring sugarcane cropping system, relay intercropping of autumn sugarcane in standing rice produced 33 and 35 % more cane and sugar yield, respectively, with 42 % higher returns besides 79 % energy saving. This practice may grossly benefit cane growers and sugar mill owners alike in the Indian subtropics, particularly in rice-growing and low-lying areas of eastern Uttar Pradesh and north Bihar.