e Crop Management in Sugarcane... easi g Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Souvenir Proceedings

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1 T ational Seminar on e Crop Management in Sugarcane easi g Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Souvenir cum Proceedings Venue Andhra University Campus, Visakhapatnam 5th & 6th December, 2014, ', Organised by Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle Acharya NGRanga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh

2 National Seminar on ICM in Sugarcane for Increasing Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Application of Silixol sugarcane, a silicon formulation, accentuates the growth and nutrient status in sugarcane Sagar S More*, Rahul ~, RajkumarS, Chaitanya GVS and JainN Privi Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, Navi Mumbai, * neemjain@privicoin ABSTRACT Ortho Silicic Acid (OSA) is the only bio-available form of Silicon, utilized by plants Silixol Sugarcane is a propriety formulation development by Privi Life Sciences, known to cater the nutritional requirement of sugarcane It results in increased cane and CCS yield Privi Life Sciences is having a patented technology of stabilizing OSA Experiments were undertaken at different locations across India on sugarcane to assess efficacy of the formulation Popular varieties viz Co 86032, NIRA 671, Phule 265 were been used for studies Silixol Sugarcane was applied as drenching as well as foliar sprays Five or more applications of the formulation have been proposed to have best results on yield Treatment of setts facilitated development of dormant shoot and root primordia This had resulted in better germination percentage 88% in treated compared to 72% in control Treatment had not only enhanced germination percentage, but also resulted in increased vigour of developing seedlings Initial biochemical and nutrient analyses supported growth as nutrient uptake was better in leaves drawn from plants treated with Silixol sugarcane Chlorophyll content was also better in the latter At later stages, drenching of Silixol Sugarcane facilitated tiller development Leaves were wider, thicker and more erect in treated plants compared to the control ones At the grand growth stage, it was observed that developing cane in treated plants had thicker and longer internodes compared to control plants Use of Silixol Sugarcane has also contributed towards lower incidences of internode borer, cracking of cane as well as red rot on leaves Repeated applications of ortho silicic acid improved soil properties like soil ph, conductivity and nutrient availability The available phosphorous content in calcareous soil was found to increase following multiple use of Silixol Sugarcane Preliminary results confirm that use of Silicon products have a beneficial role in growth and yield of sugarcane Introduction: Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant elements found in the earth's crust Generally soils are rich in silicon but several soils in humid tropical areas show low silicon contents Silicon is not considered an essential plant nutrient (Epstein, 1999) Si accumulating plants such as sugarcane could exhibit reduced yields associated with the intensive management and monoculture in these soils Silicon fertilization has been shown to improve chlorophyll and structure of leaves, reduce lodging and minimize biotic and abiotic stress Positive results have been obtained with Ortho Silicic Acid application in many studies, including Maharashtra Most of these results were not exclusive from silicon because the high rates of silicate can improve ph, Ca and Mg contents It is sparsely soluble in water and available to plants Sugarcane is known to take up more Si than any other mineral nutrient except potassium, with the potential to accumulate up to 400 kg ha-1 of Si, in a 12-month-old irrigated crop : Centenary of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle

3 National Seminer on ICfv1 in Sugarcane for lncreesinq Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Sugarcane is a Si accumulator plant, which strongly responds to Si supply The Si form that which sugarcane usually absorbs has no electric charge (H2Si04) may be non selective and energetically passive and its transport stream from root to shoot is in the transpiration stream in the xylem, the assumption has sometimes been made that the movement of Si follows that of water (Jones and Handreck, 1965) Another beneficial advantage of silicon to sugarcane is the possibility of reducing damages of insects Studies conducted in pots and field conditions with Si has shown positive effects to control of stalk borer Eldana saccharina Good characteristics in sugarcane such as low fibre and high sugar are generally related to stalk borer tolerance An increase of silicon uptake in sugarcane with silicates applications could reduce the damage of stalk borer as recorded by Elawad et at (1982) Me Cary et al 2014, had carried out a detailed study to ascertain the importance of silicon fertilizers towards sugarcane productivity Considering the scarce information about silicate fertilization in sugarcane, objectives of present work were to study the relationship between yields and Si uptake Materials and Method: Planting material The study was conducted on Adsali crop of sugarcane in commercial areas located at Koihapur in Maharashtra state of India The chemical analysis of the soil was done of surface soil (0-25cm) showed organic matter, Si acetic acid, ph, electrical conductivity of the soil Available nitrogen, available phosphorous and available potassium were estimated by alkaline permanganate method, Olsen's method and neutral normal ammonium acetate methods, respectively Above mentioned parameters were determined periodically to observe the changes in nutrient status following application of Silixol Sugarcane to soil Experimental design Experiment was set up in a simple randomized block design with two treatments (control and Silixol Sugarcane) in three replicates Experiments were carried out on two popular cultivars ie, Co and Phule-265 The source of silicon was Silixol Sugarcane containing Ortho Silicic Acid (08%) Sampling and data analysis During sugarcane planting treatments were applied in furrow and soil was fertilized based upon soil analyses Silixol sugarcane was applied four times during its growth period monthly interval basis Fertigation of the Silixol Sugarcane was done in later stage when the foliar application could not be possible Results: Sett germination Setts (2 budded) of sugarcane were dipped in the water having 02% Silixol Sugarcane in addition to 01 % Bavistin Treatment of Silixol Sugarcane hastened bud development as well as emergence Germination of buds was evident after 4 days of treatment and 875% sett germination was recorde1 in 1 acre land compared to 72% in case of control plot (Fig 1) After 4 da s Silixol Sugarcane Silixol Sugarcane After 45 DAS : Centenary of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle

4 National Seminar on ICM in Sugarcane for Increasing Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Figure 1: Impact of Silixol Sugarcane on sett germination Standing crop in field To accentuate germination of seedling, two foliar sprays of Silixol 02% were taken after 45 DAS and 65 DAS Differences were recorded in terms of seedling, root length and leaf length (Table 1, Figure 2) Number of as well as millable canes per hill were more in treated area compared to control Table 1: Effect of foliar sprays of Silixol Sugarcane on growth of seedlings on Co Treatment Length of leaf (cm) Figure 2: Comparative Width of leaf (em) Plant heig ht (cm) Root length (em) growth of seedling and root length following foliar sprays of Silixol Subsequent to 90 DAS, crop was drenched monthly with Silixol 4ml/l with 400 ml of water per acre four times A substantial increase in various growth parameters were recorded in agronomic traits as well as nutrient profile of leaves periodically (Table 2-4) Better vegetative growth of seedling could be correlated with higher chlorophyll content of leaves as well as better nutrient status Table 2: Effect on and number of of Co t" month 2na month 3m month 4tn month No of Plant No of Plant Plant No of Plant No of T(005) Table 3: Effect of Silixol Sugarcane on internode parameters of millable canes Co m month Length Number T (005) Girth m month Number Length girth tn month Length Number girth : Centenary of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle -

5 National Seminar on ICM in Sugarcane for Increasing Cane, Sugar and Jaggery Yields Table 4: Effect of Silixol Sugarcane application on nutrient profile of leaves of 8 th month crop % content p Si K Na Ca S '~'In addition to these agronomic traits, canes developed on treated area had a lesser incidence of internode borer, cane cracking and they did not exhibit any lodging (Figure 3, 4) Leaves of plants in treated plot were more thicker and erect contributing towards higher photosynthetic efficiency Figure 3: Lesser incidence of internode borer following use of Silixol Sugarcane in Phule 265 Figure 4: Lesser incidence of cane cracking following use of Silixol Sugarcane in Co86032 Repeated applications of Silixol Sugarcane improved soil properties like soil ph, conductivity and nutrient availability The available phosphorous content in calcareous soil was found to increase following multiple use of Silixol Sugarcane (Table 5) : Centenary of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle

6 National Seminar on ICM in Sugarcane for Increasing Cane, Sugar andjaggery Yields Table 5: Effect of Simol Sugarcane application on nutrient status of soil Parameters Initial lit month 2 na month JrG month ph EC (ds m-i) OC% Available N ke/ha Available P ke/ha Available K ke/ha Available S ke/ha Most of trials plots would be harvested soon and then only we would be in position to give actual yield data However, based on the crop stand and cane attributes, it appears that a significant increment in yield (-35-40%) would be recorded in the harvested crop, as per farmers observation Conclusion: Application of Silixol Sugarcane, periodically has mutli faceted roles culminating into higher yields I Importance of Silicon in sugarcane production is already well documented and is accepted across major sugarcane growing regions across the world Application of Silixol Sugarcane has no toxic impact on soil, which is frequently reported following the use of some crude sources of silicon like slag or calcium silicates References: Me Cray J M, Rice RW, Ezenwa IV, Lang TA, and Les B 2014 Sugarcane Plant Nutrient Diagnosis Florida Sugarcane Handbook, an electronic publication of the Agronomy Department Elawad SH, Street JJ and Gascho OJ (1982) response of sugarcane to silicate source ad rate I Growth and yield Agronomy Journal 74, Epstein E (1999) Silicon Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 50, Elliot and Snyder GH (1991) Autoclaved-induced digestion for the colometric determination of silicon in rice straw Journal of Agricultural Food and Chemistry 39, : Centenary of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Anakapalle