The Role of Sugarcane Trash in Soil Fertility and Plant Growth: A Review
Vikas Tandon *
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Mamta Rani
Department of Botany, Panjab University Chandigarh-160014, India.
Rohtas Kumar
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Mamta Lathwal
Department of Botany, Panjab University Chandigarh-160014, India.
Nikita Kalyan
Department of Botany, Panjab University Chandigarh-160014, India.
Satender Kumar
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Ankush Kamboj
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Sushil
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Paras Kamboj
Department of Agronomy, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
Ajay Sharma
Department of Statistics, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Sugarcane needs a hot and humid climate and can be grown on a variety of soils that can retain moisture. Owing to its long life cycle it heavily depletes soil nutrients during its growth period. Sugarcane, being a heavy feeder requires nearly 208 kg N, 53 kg P2O5, and 280 kg K2O from the soil to produce 100 t ha-1 sugarcane. Sugarcane, being a C4 plant, produces a large quantity of biomass. Approximately 10-15 t of trash, constituting 10-12% weight of cane harvested, is produced by the sugarcane crop. Generally, cane trash contains 68% organic matter, 0.42% N, 0.15% P, 0.57% K, 0.48% Ca, and 0.12% Mg, besides 25.7, 20.45, 236.4, and 16.8 ppm Zn, Fe, Mn and Ca, respectively. Trash conserves soil moisture, C, and N in the soil and provides energy to increase the yield. The trash application conserves the nutrients in the soil, also aids their availability to the plant, and reduces the fertilizer requirements through recycling nutrients in the soil from residue. Organic mulches also create a better physical, chemical, and biological environment of soils and in turn, improve crop productivity. Burning of trash deteriorate the fertility as well as soil health. It also reduces the soil microbial activity and destabilize of soil aggregates. Significant N losses from residues can occur during burning by high temperature volatilization. In the burnt system, >70% of the organic matter and nutrients in the trash are lost to the atmosphere.
Keywords: Sugarcane, crop, residues, soil fertility