Pit plantation is a new technique of sowing in sugarcane, and the whole world appreciates it. Developed countries increase the production of sugarcane by this method and improve the quality of sugarcane.
In Punjab, researchers have introduced this method, and many farmers also took an interest in this method of the plantation.
Pit Plantation:
In this method, we first cultivate the land and then plank or laser leveller the land. Laser levelling is a more precise method than others. After levelling, we dig the hole of 2ft*2ft (2 feet depth and 2 feet width). We put soil up to one and a half feet and applied a basal dose of fertilizer at that time. The distance between holes should also be two feet.
In every hole, we place 13-15 triple-budded sets. By this method, we dug 2500-3000 holes. Using 250-300 mounds of Seed, we can get a yield of 2000-2500 mounds per acre. Except this, by the conventional method of 4ft or 2.5ft, farmers are getting a crop yield of only 600 mounds per acre on average. By adopting the pit plantation method, we can increase yield by up to 200%.
Advantages of pit plantation:
- Adopting the pit plantation method can minimize lodging problems.
- This method can decrease light competition among plants and ultimately good interception of light by plants and eventually, the growth of sugarcane is enhanced.
- Pit plantations help effectively utilize water and fertilizers because we place water and fertilizer in the targeted place.
- The plant can tolerate drought for a more extended period than the conventional method because loosening the soil and moisture is available for a more extended time.
- In pit plantations, soil moisture remains in the soil for a longer time.
- Pit plantations can achieve effective utilization of insecticide.
- Ratoon crop of pit plantation is also good.
- Because there is a distance between holes, predator birds eat many insects, beneficial for the crop.
- By adopting pit plantation, the root of the sugarcane plant goes deeper spread than conventional plantation so the plant can tolerate water shortage and other biotic and abiotic stresses.
Irrigation method in pit plantation
Farmers use trenches between the holes for Irrigation, and this method saves water because of the efficient application of water.
Sugarcane Planter:
- Makes furrows, cuts seed sets of the desired length, and places the sugarcane sets in the furrows.
- Fertilizer application and covers the placed sets with soil simultaneously.
- 3 Row – Semi-automatic, tractor mounted, PTO driven.
- Two labourers sitting on the machine fed full-length striped cane.
- Power requirement: 65HP+
Disadvantages of pit plantation:
- Laborious job.
- Time-consuming.
- Lack of availability of planter.
- Germination may decrease if not appropriately handled properly.
- Manually trench has to be made, which is a difficult job.
Dr. Rizwan Maqbool, Burhan Khalid and Muhammad Waqas Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad Pakistan Corresponding author Email [email protected]
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