Abstract

Fifty one On-farm demonstrations on subsurface drip fertigation (SSDF) were carried out in 51.62 hectares of farmers’ fields in fifteen villages of Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu from 2009- 10 to 2010-11 under Tamil Nadu-Irrigated Agriculture Modernization and Water Bodies Restoration and Management (TN – IAMWARM) Project. Two methods of sugarcane cultivation viz., SSDF and conventional method were compared by using the varieties Co 86032, Co91017. Co 96125, Co 99012 and Co 92102. The results revealed that adoption of SSDF recorded significantly higher number of internodes per cane and individual cane weight than that of conventional method. Subsurface drip fertigation registered a mean cane yield of 113.9 t ha -1 which was significantly higher than surface irrigation with conventional fertilizer application ( 86.8 t ha -1 ) . The average yield increment under SSDF was 30.8 per cent compared to conventional method of cultivation during the period of study. The total water requirement under SSDF was lesser (1730 mm) than conventional method (2499 mm) and thus a substantial quantity of water saving by 30.7 percent due to SSDF was observed. The higher cane yield coupled with enormous quantity of water saving under SSDF resulted in higher water use efficiency of 65.8 kg ha -1 mm -1 but it was only 34.8 kg ha -1 mm -1 in conventional method of sugarcane cultivation. In addition, higher economic benefits like total income, net income and benefit cost ratio were also associated with SSDF during study than surface irrigation with band application of fertilizers. Adoption of SSDF also gained an additional mean net income of Rs 51,036 ha -1 than normal method of cultivation.

Keywords: Sugarcane, SSDF, cane yield, water use efficiency, economics