IMPACT OF ADVERSE PRODUCTION CONDITIONS ON SUGARCANE YIELD PARAMETRES IN MANDYA DISTRICT

Dr. K. V. Keshavaiah* and Salim Nadaf

ABSTRACT

Sugarcane is an industrial crop for used for extraction of sugar and preparation of jaggery. The quality of sugarcane
is reflected in the end product. This is particularly important in view of it being used for chemical free jaggery
preparation where the quality of cane is of paramount importance. A study was conducted to know the effect of
cane grown in adverse conditions including saline soils, sodic soils, lodged cane and cane from shaded area
compared to the cane from normal fields and research station. The results have revealed that there is not much
difference in pH of juice from freshly harvested cane, higher reducing sugar (>5%) in saline soils cane and lodged
cane and reduced sucrose content (16%). Higher accumulation of sucrose was noticed in moisture stress situation
compared to normal soils. The yield attributing parametres indicate that cane length was lower in moisture stress
(1.73 m) saline and sodic conditions (2.4 m) compared to normal soils. The girth and internodal length followed
similar trend. However, the number of internodes was higher with stressed cane (25.33). the adverse conditions for
cane growth affect the yield and juice quality parametres.

Keywords: Adverse conditions, sugarcane juice and yield parametres.