Sugar cane yield under different water depths and nitrogen levels in two cycles

Abstract

Water stress may have higher or lower impact on sugar cane yield according to the phenological stage growth and development. However, irrigation and nitrogen fertilization have the potential to mitigate these effects of water stress on sugar cane, increasing yield and improving the quality of raw material. Based on these considerations, this study aimed at evaluating the yield of sugar cane stems and TRS (total recoverable sugar) using different levels of water depth replacement (100, 75, 50, 25 and 0%), with and without nitrogen subsurface drip irrigation fertilization in sugar cane plant and ratoon. The experiment was conducted under field conditions, in March 2011 at the Goiás Federal Institute - Rio Verde Campus - Go experimental station. A completely randomized factorial (5x2x2) design was used with four replicates. Analysis of variance using the F test at 5% probability was applied to the results, and when they were significant, regression analysis was performed for levels of water replacement. Means concerning nitrogen application and cycles were compared by the Tukey test at 5% significance level using the SISVAR statistical software. Stem yield and TRS had a significant effect with increases of 31.28 and 1.04% respectively for ratoon cane, and of 15.68 and 4.32%, respectively for cane plant in relation to water replacement.