Impact of derocking and land grading on sugar cane production
| MSI10P4454 | |
| Ramasamy, S. Ng Kee Kwong, K. F. Bholah, M. A. | |
| Impact of derocking and land grading on sugar cane production | |
| periodical article | |
| 2007 | |
| Revue agric. sucr. Ile Maurice | |
| 86(1): 47-53 | |
| Published 2009 | |
| En | |
| En Fr | |
| To enhance the competiveness of the sugar cane industry through a reduction in the costs of production, mechanized cultural practices must necessarily be adopted. Derocking and land grading are pre-requisites for the adoption of such practices but they are often perceived as exerting an adverse impact on crop productivity. To determine with certainty whether such operations really have a negative impact on crop productivity, fields that had undergone medium to high levels of derocking and land grading were identified at Medine, Beau Champ, Riche En Eau, Mon Loisir and Belle Vue. Cane yields records of selected fields were retrieved from the computerized Land Index Database and were compared over a crop cycle before and after the implementation of derocking and land grading. The comparison showed that, irrespective of soil type and climate, medium to high levels of derocking/land grading had on the whole no detrimental effect on crop productivity. Indeed, in most of the fields that were examined, an increase in yield was noted, which may be attributed to the cultivation of higher performing varieties in soils relatively free of rocks and irrigated with more efficient systems like the centre pivot. Any detrimental effect that derocking and land grading may have on production at the beginning of the crop cycle, that is in plant cane and first ratoon, will be more than compensated by the benefit accrued in the later part of the crop cycle. | |
| sugarcane sugarcane lands mechanization cultural practices yields land preparation land grading land use derocking | |
| Mauritius | |
| Sugarcane: Land use and management | |
| Derocking | |
| 2010-02-03 | |
| En | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| LRD |