YIELD AND YIELD ATTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF RAINFED SUGARCANE DURING TRANSITION TO ORGANIC PRODUCTION
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RAINFED SUGARCANE DURING TRANSITIONAbstract
Sugarcane is one of the important commercial crops in North Coastal Zone of Andhra Pradesh and rainfed sugarcane occupies around 45 per cent of total cane area in North coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Sugarcane production has tended to remain either stagnant or is declining despite application of high-cost inputs. Experts attribute this stagnation is due to destruction of soil health by application of imbalanced fertilizers without addition of organic matter. Organic farming is a holistic production system which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystems health including bio-diversity, biological cycles and soil biological activities. Application of organic manures at the time of land preparation is very important to improve and maintain soil fertility and crop productivity. Besides providing plant nutrients, organic matter helps in improving soil structure, water holding capacity and microbial activity. Under the context of environmental pollution, health hazards and great threat for soil sustainability, organic farming is gaining prominence even though it has merits and demerits in crop production. In rainfed crops input usage had a higher effect than cultural practices. Organic manures have been found to enhance the efficiency and reduce the requirement of chemical fertilizers besides improving quality of produce and sustaining soil health. Hence, the present study was conducted from 2021-22 onwards to standardize the production protocols for sugarcane under rainfed condition with a objective to study the effect of organic farming on yield attributes, yield and quality of sugarcane. Earlier research results at RARS, Anakapalle showed that the application of organic manures in conjunction with chemical fertilizers on annual basis to sugarcane helped in saving of recommended dose of chemical fertilizers to an extent of 25 % besides slight increase in fertility of soils. Cane and sugar yields got stabilized in irrigated sugarcane under organic farming after five years of experimentation recording comparable yields as that of inorganic farming.