Water use efficiency of sugarcane clones under rainfed condition

Abstract

Crop water use study is necessary for crop management. The purpose of the research was to determine water use efficiency (WUE) of sugarcane clones under rainfed conditions. A field trial was carried out in rainfed at Kediri, East Java, from August 2018 to June 2020 in two seasons of plant cane (PC) and first ratoon cane (RC1). A Split-Plot Design was used for the field trial with three replications. Three planting arrangements were allocated to the main plot. Sub-plots consisted of five clones and one check variety. The WUE is the ratio of sugarcane yield to total crop evapotranspiration. Crop evapotranspiration was the reference evapotranspiration multiply by crop coefficients. Reference evapotranspiration needs meteorological data and relied on the FAO Penman-Monteith method. The average sugarcane crop evapotranspiration for two seasons was 1260.9 mm/year in PC and RC1, with effective rainfall of 817.6 mm and 797 mm, respectively. Average water use efficiency to produce sugarcane were 11.47 and 10.85 t/100 mm and sugar 1.085 and 0.884 t/100 mm, respectively, in PC and RC1. The WUE benefit as criteria for crop selection and to calculate the potential yield given the available water.