Wanlipa Suchato

E-mail : sfcrc@access.inet.co.th

In the western part of Thailand, the use of one stalk is as popular as that of two stalks for planting. The later is done to ensure a good germination, but it requires a double amount of planting material compared to one stalk planting. This results in an increase in the cost of planting. It is known that planting sugarcane with one stalk, two setts and two stalks requires 6, 8 and 10 t/ha of planting material, respectively. Thus, a 2 x 3 factorial experiment in RCB with 4 replications was carried out in 1998 at Suphan-Buri Field Crops Research Centre to determine the appropriate rate of planting material as well as the best method of planting. The first Factor consisted of two sugarcane varieties namely K 84-200 and U Thong 1. The second consisted of three rate of planting material, i.e. one stalk and two stalks for plantings, as well as two setts with two eyes/setts. Data on cane yield and stalk number were recorded and analysed. Results indicate that there was no significant difference in cane yield for rate of planting material, and the interaction of variety x rate of planting material was not significant. Even though the mean cane yield of two stalk planting was higher than those of other two methods (Table 1), This does not mean that two stalk planting should be recommended. The benefit from two stalk planting may not exceed the cost of increasing the amount of planting material. U Thong 1 sugarcane variety gave a higher cane yield than K 84-200 (table 1), as it had a significantly higher number of stalks per hectare (Table 2). It is well know that K 84-200 usually has a lower number of stalks/stool than U Thong 1; therefore, in order to increase stalk number per hectare of K 84-200, a narrower plant spacing may be required.