ABSTRACT

Four experiments comprising three field trials were conducted at the upland sugarcane experimental field of the National Cereals Research Institute Farm, Badeggi (90 451 N; 60 071 E) in the Southern Guinea savanna ecological zone of Nigeria from 2010 to 2012 wet and dry seasons. The fourth experiment was conducted at the screen house of the Research Institute. Two varieties of sugarcane used for the experiments were chewing sugarcane (Bida Local) and industrial sugarcane i.e. National Cereals Sugar 008 (NCS 008). The first experiment was to determine the effect of different mulching materials on the growth and yield of sugarcane was a 2 x 3 x 2 factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The second experiment that evaluated various parts of sugarcane cutting that could be planted by the farmers was a 3 x 3 x 2 factorial laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The third experiment which assessed the effect of harvesting time and three polyethylene colour as mulch on postharvest quality of sugarcane was a 4 x 2 factorial laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. The fourth experiment determined the growth performance of sugarcane under different watering regime and K-fertilizer rates was a complete randomized design (CRD) with four replications laid out in the screen house. Three setts of sugarcane were planted per row and ratoon for each experiment was assessed for the next cropping season for all the experiments. The following parameters were measured: establishment count, stalk length and girth, number of stalks, tillers produced, nodes and inter-nodes, % brix, stalk yield. Establishment count significantly (p<0.05) differed in both the plant and the ratoon crops in 2010 and 2011. In the ratoon crop, mulching with groundnut shell produced higher establishment count (60%) compared to 52% when rice husk was used. Also, increasing organic matter rate increased the establishment count in the ratoon crops. In all the sampling periods, the stalk length of NCS 008 variety was significantly (p< 0.05) higher compared to that of Bida local in both cropping systems. Mulching at 40 t ha-1 gave the best yield for both the plant and ratoon crops when compared to 0 and 20 t ha-1. Plots mulched with 40 t ha-1 of groundnut shell gave the highest yield. The highest stalk yields of 42.25 and 50.31 t ha-1 were obtained from plant and ratoon crops in 2010 and 2011 respectively for NCS 008; 38.12 and 45.19 t ha-1 in 2010 and 2011 respectively, for Bida local. . Furthermore, the optimum stalk yields obtained from 40 t ha-1 in 2010 and 2011 plant and ratoon crops were higher than the maximum obtained for 0 and 20 t ha-1. The brix content from NCS 008 was significantly