Variations in Growth Performance and Nitrogen Uptake of Sugarcane Cultivars Under Rain-Fed Conditions

Dinh Thai Hoang,Eizo Taira,Hiroo Takaragawa,Le Trong Lu,Yoshinobu Kawamitsu

doi:10.31817/vjas.2020.3.2.01

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate growth and nitrogen uptake of the twelve sugarcane varieties, viz. NiF3, NiF8, Ni9, Ni12, Ni15, Ni17, Ni21, Ni22, Ni25, Ni27, Ni28, and Ni29, under rain-fed conditions during the period from 70 to 160 days after transplanting (DAT) at the experimental field, Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. The results showed that water shortage from a rain-fed condition caused reductions, but not significant in plant height and SPAD of sugarcane varieties. The genetic variation in leaf area, yield components, partial and total biomass, and cane yield was found among the investigated varieties. The positive associations between total nitrogen uptake with total biomass production and cane yield suggested that higher nitrogen uptake supports better growth performance of sugarcane under rain-fed conditions. From this study, NiF3 and Ni27 could be introduced as the promising sugarcane varieties for better growth performance and high nitrogen uptake under rain-fed conditions.

Highlights

Sugarcane produces an enormous biomass production with an average of approximately 40 tons per ha per year (Waclawovsky et al, 2010)
The water stress during the short period from 80 to 105 days after transplanting (DAT) might have a certain effect on increasing the rate of the average plant height of sugarcane varieties, which resulted in lower plant height in the water-shortage treatment in comparison with that in the control treatment (Figure 2c)
The results indicated that there were no significant reductions in the growth of sugarcane under rain-fed conditions compared to irrigated conditions

Summary

Introduction

Sugarcane produces an enormous biomass production with an average of approximately 40 tons per ha per year (Waclawovsky et al, 2010). Sugarcane consumes a huge amount of nitrogen (N) and water for growth and development. The sugarcane productivity is mostly contributed by the stalk weight and stalk population. Water shortage at tillering and elongating phases reduces plant growth and plant population which leads to a decrease in the number of millable stalks. The low millable stalk number will result in losses of both cane and sugar yield (Dinh et al, 2017b). Water shortage at these phases becomes one of the most important limiting factors in sugarcane production

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion