Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is the main source of sugar in India and holds a prominent position as a cash crop. India is the world's largest producer of sugar and sugarcane. The size of the sugar industry in the country is more than Rs. 20,000 crores. The sugar industry is the second largest agro-based industry of India in economic returns, employment potential and poverty alleviation through rural uplift.   Area of Cultivation Area under sugarcane cultivation has been divided into 5 zones, viz Peninsular zone, North-western zone, North-central zone, North-east zone and East Coast zones with well-knit system of Sugarcane Research Stations under the State Agricultural Universities. The zones widely vary in productivity of sugarcane and sugar recovery. Uttar Pradesh produces maximum sugar accounting for more than 44% of India's total production. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the other important producing states.

Sugarcane grows best on medium heavy soils, but can also be raised on lighter soils and heavy clays, provided there is adequate irrigation available in the former type of soils and drainage is good in the latter type of soils. In northern India, it is cultivated largely on the loams and clay loams of the Gangetic and other alluviums, whereas in Peninsular India, it is grown on brown or reddish loams, laterites and black cotton soils. In many places, dark rich clay loams, 120 to 150 cm deep, and lying on a previous substratum of murum (disintegrated traprock) are used for this crop. The provision of proper drainage enables the resumption of cane cultivation on many heavy soils that may have become unfit for this crop owing to water-logging or alkalinity. In some areas in Peninsular India, where the soils are heavy, 70 to 100 cartloads of sand or red earth are added to the soil per hectare to improve its texture. Similarly, in sandy soils, tank silt is added to improve their water-holding capacity.

Sugarcane is able to grow over a prolonged season. Under warm humid conditions, it can continue its growth, unless terminated by flowering. However, its height is strongly influenced by the age of the crop and season. Temperatures above 50°C arrest its growth; those below 20°C slow it down markedly and severe frost proves fatal. The crop does best in the tropical regions receiving a rainfall of 750 to 1,200 mm. It can also be grown in sub-tropical areas, but where the climate is subject to extremes, and the dry season is long, the growth period of the crop is restricted to a bare four months in the year, and the yields tend to be distinctly lower than those in the tropics. In tracts receiving a relatively high rainfall (1,200 to 1,500 mm), e.g. in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam, the crop is grown without irrigation and thrives on the moisture conserved in the soil. For ripening, it needs a cool, dry season; but where rainfall is too heavy and prolonged, the quality of the juice tends to be low, and where the weather remains comparatively warm and moist throughout the year, it does not ripen well. In years of drought, the crop becomes a little fibrous and in the dry areas generally, only the hardier and more fibrous varieties can be grown. The climatic conditions of Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka, and the Telengana area of Andhra Pradesh are ideal for sugarcane; in some of these areas, its yield per hectare has shown a steady increase owing to improved culture. The acreage under sugarcane has also increased.

In northern India, planting is usually done with the onset of the warm weather and is completed well before the onset of summer. On this basis, the more eastern is the tract, the earlier is the time suitable for planting. Thus broadly speaking, the first fortnight of March is the best time for planting sugarcane in the Punjab and Haryana, February in Uttar Pradesh and January-February in Bihar. In actual practice, however, most of the planting tends to be late, rather than early. On large farms in northern India, where planting work is likely to be prolonged, a part of the planting is also undertaken in October-November. In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, cane-planting is done between December and February. In Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka, it is done in December-February for the 12-month crop which is called eksali, in October-November for the 15 to 16-month crop which is called 'pre-seasonal', and in July-August for the 18-month crop, which is called adsali. Thus in these areas, for this crushing season, December to April, cane is planted almost throughout a period of about 8 months from July to February. This is possible because of the more equable climate, low rainfall, the high elevation and the consequent absence of water stagnation, and the easy availability of adequate irrigation. Under such conditions, cane also makes growth and accumulates sugar, more or less, continuously, and hence earlier plantings give higher yeilds and better-quality cane; the late-planted crops, apart from giving lower yields, are usually badly attacked by the shoot-borer, which causes gaps in the stand of cane and setback to growth. Since crops planted in different months ripen in succession, by suitable adjustment of planting, the necessary areas in different seasons, and a planned supply of cane to the factory, a satisfactory recovery of sugar in factories can be ensured over a reasonably long crushing season.

In northern India, sugarcane is grown in rotation with wheat, cotton, gram, lahi (Brassica napus), maize, jowar, peas and other crops, and in eastern areas, it is rotated mostly with paddy. Except when ratooned, the crop is not grown on the same land oftener than once in three or four years. In southern India, it is usually rotated with paddy, whereas in Maharashtra, the common rotations are sugarcane-ratoon-wheat, or sugarcane-cotton-gram. In many localities, where the crop is grown under irrigation from wells, it is rotated with garden crops, such as potatoes, chillies, sweet-potato, ginger, onion, turmeric, elephant's foot, and even bananas. In some localities, particularly near large towns, onion, radish, coriander, green cucumber and other quick-growing vegetables are grown as companion catch crops on ridges or in interspaces when the cane crop is young. The practice of taking potato, dwarf wheat, sugar-beet, toria, coriander (dhania,) berseem and turnip as companion crops in the interspaces of the autumn planting is gaining popularity in the northern region of the country. In the canal-irrigated tracts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, a block system of irrigation is practised and under it a three-year rotation is compulsory, the sequence of crops being rice, groundnut, jowar, ragi, sunnhemp and sugarcane, as in Karnataka, or sugarcane, fodder jowar, groundnut, tobacco, cotton and green manure, as in Maharashra. In the Telengana area of Andhra Pradesh, the rotation sugarcane, ratoon, monsoon paddy, winter paddy, and sunnhemp green manure has been found the best.

Sugarcane requires a very thorough and clean preparation of land. In Peninsular India, where sugarcane soils are mostly clays and clay loams, one o two deep ploughings and one cross-ploughing with a mould board plough are necessary. These operations should be followed by clod-crushing with a disc-harrow, or a junior cultivator or a beam clod-crusher or even with wooden mallets and stout sticks. In the alluvial loams of northern India, cultivators usually prepare their fields after winter rains, but when these rains fail, the fields are given a preparatory irrigation. After it, when the soil comes into vattar (right stage of moisture) it is cultivated quickly and thoroughly with a desi plough till it is reduced to a fine tilth. In Bihar, the fields meant for cane are left fallow during the preceeding monsoon and are cultivated at intervals up to the same of planting cane. All this is done in order to conserve moisture and keep down weeds.

Cattle manure, compost and other slow-acting bulky organic materials are usually applied to the soil and incorporated into it well in advance of planting. This practice helps to decompose the manures and makes the nutrients available. Where cane is green-manured, the leguminous crop should be ploughed under about a month before planting the cane. In northern India, however, where a cold season intervenes, the green-manure crop is ploughed under in September and cane is planted several months later.
Sugarcane is planted either in furrows or trenches. Depending on the method of planting and the fertility of the soil, furrows or trenches are made half to one-and-a-half metres apart. Comparatively narrow spacings are adopted in northern India, where yields are usually low, whereas wider spacings are common in Peninsular India where the aim is to obtain high yields. Furrows are made with a padded desi plough are quite shallow, being about 10 cm deep, whereas those made with a ridger are about 20 cm deep. Where trench-planting is adopted, trenches are dug by hand-labour, using pick-axes and spades, and may be up to 25 cm deep. On large farms, all preparatory cultivation, including ploughing, clod-crushing, harrowing, and ridge-making are mechanized.
The adequacy of moisture is very necessary for the setts. In Peninsular India, arrangements for irrigation are made well before planting. In northern India and in Bihar, care is taken to conserve as much moisture in the soil as possible, so that the planted cane is able to germinate satisfactorily. All the same, as the planting is necessarily done during the comparatively dry season, considerable loss of moisture from the soil and setts takes place, and usually only 30 to 40 per cent of the buds germinate.

Healthy seed material, free from pests and diseases, and having high viability is essential for establishing the crop in the first instance. The top one third to half portion of a cane, being comparatively immature, has buds of good viability and is best to be used as seed. The bottom portion is usually richer in sugar than the top portion, and it is best to utilize it for sugar or gur-making. In tropical India, setts for sowing are taken from well-manured, erect and healthy canes. In some places in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, crop nurseries are raised specially for producing seed-canes. These nurseries are adequately fertilized, and well protected against pests and diseases.
Before planting, the leaves of the cane stalks are stripped off by hand in order that buds on them may not be damaged. These stalks are then cut into 3-bud setts each usually 30 to 50 cm long. If seed is required at a distant place, whole canes should be transported without stripping off the leaves or cutting them into setts. If planting is for any reason to be delayed, but the seed, canes have been harvested, they should be heaped in shade under a thick cover of straw or cane trash, and periodically sprinkled with water. Under the dry conditions of northern India, the soaking of seed in water for four to six hours before sowing improves and hastens germination. Under irrigated conditions in Peninsular India, the planted setts are liable to rot, and in some areas they are attacked by the pineapple disease. To prevent rotting and infection with the disease, the dipping of the setts into suitable fungicide, such as 0.5 per cent mercuric chloride or 0.25 per cent Aretan or Agallol solution or 1 kg of Perenox in 400 litres of water is recommended. Aretan, along with gamma BHC, is also recommended in northern India; the former improves the germination and keeps off fungal attack and the latter keeps off termites is serious, gamma BHC at 1 kg actual ingredient per hectare in emulsion form and diluted 300 times is sprinkled with a watering-can on the setts placed in the furrows.
Depending on the distance between the rows and the vigour and soundness of the buds, 25 to 35 thousand 3-bud setts are usually enough to plant a hectare. According as the cane is thick or thin, 1½ to 3 tonnes of cane by weight is needed to provide about 10,000 30bud setts. In the Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, 2-bud setts planted in rows, about 60 cm (about two feet) apart, have been found to give the best results. In the case of late planting, the seed-rate is often increased slightly, and the setts are planted a little closer in the row in order to guard against gappy germination.

(1) Flat-planting. In the case of this method, shallow furrows are opened with a desi plough, 80 to 100 cm apart; the setts are placed in them end to end and covered with 5 to 7 cm of soil, and the field is levelled with a heavy plank (sohaga).
(2) Furrow-planting. Furrows are made with a ridger, about 10 to 15 cm deep, in northern India and about 20 cm deep in Peninsular India. Setts are laid end to end or otherwise in the furrows and covered with 5 to 7 cm of soil, leaving the upper portion of the furrow unfilled. Immediately after planting and covering the setts, water is let into the furrow. In some parts of Tamil Nadu, particularly in heavy clay soils, water is first let into the furrow to soak its bed thoroughly and the cane setts are then dropped into the furrow and pressed into the mud by foot. In the case of monsoon planting, as a precaution against the stagnant water in the furrow damaging the buds, the setts are placed inclined on the side of the furrow, instead of flat at the bottom of the furrow.
(3) Trench planting. Trenches, 20 to 25 cm deep and rectangular or trapezoidal in section, are made either by manual labour or with a tractor-drawn ridger; the bottom of the furrow is loosened by digging. Shallow furrows are made in the bed of the trench and the setts are placed end to end or otherwise in the furrows and covered, as in the case of flat-planting. Water is then let into the trenches.
The tractor-drawn sugarcane-planter designed and fabricated at the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, is a very suitable device for planting cane in trenches. Trench-making, setts planting applying fertilizers and pesticides and covering the setts in the trenches are done simultaneously with this tractor-drawn planter.
In most parts of northern India and Bihar, and in the Malnad tract of Karnataka, cane is planted on flatland. Furrow-planting is practised in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and in Peninsular India, and trench-planting is done in some coastal areas where the crop grows very tall and the strong winds are liable to throw it down and damage it badly.
Planting is done dry or wet. In the cane of the dry method, irrigation is not applied at planting or immediately after that, and the planted setts germinate in the comparatively dry soil. In wet planting, on the other hand, the field is irrigated just before or after planting or at both times so that setts germinate in wet soil. Whether the furrows are irrigated just before or just after planting makes little or no difference; indeed, in most cases the planted field gets additional irrigations to keep it wet throughout the period of germination.

In the case of sugarcane, the maintenance of optimum soil moisture during all stages of growth is one the essential requisites for obtaining high yields. The crop should, therefore, be grown in areas of well-distributed rainfall or under an assured and adequate irrigation. In tropical India, depending on the type of the soil, the seasonal conditions, the variety grown, the method of planting and the rate of manuring, the total the total water requirement of the crop for optimum growth varies from 200 to 300 cm, inclusive of rainfall. The requirement of an adsali crop is proportionately higher. Where the soil is not retentive of moisture, and where there are no reserves of subsoil moisture, cane requires to be irrigated frequently.
Accroding to the ICAR, to efficiently utilize irrigation water, many experiments were conducted. Experiments at the IISR indicated that if water is available for only 1irrigation, it should be given at third order of tillering.
Irrigation at 40-50% depletion of available soil moisture has been found optimum for sugarcane. Based on this, depth-interval approach has been used for scheduling irrigation. Under limited water supply, skip furrow or alternate furrow irrigation systems with trash mulch saved 10-15% irrigation water without affecting cane and sugar yields in tropical zone. At Lucknow condition skip furrow method saved 36.5% water and increased the water-use efficiency by 64%. The use of trash mulch at 25 and 50% available soil moisture increased cane yield by 36% at the IISR, Lucknow. Thus 33.3 or 50% irrigation water could be saved at 25 to 50% available soil moisture respectively when compared to no trash mulching. Studies in Maharashtra and Coimbatore have indicated 40% saving in water by the drip system of irrigation with an additional yield ranging from 10 to 25%.

The first hoeing and weeding should be given to the crop three to four weeks after planting. But in northern India, usually the shoots take a long time to emerge and meanwhile the weeds, particularly the nutgrass come up rapidly in the planted field. This rapid infestation of the sown field calls for at least one blind hoeing which may have to be given within the first one or two weeks. After germination, depending on the field conditions and the frequency of irrigation, two or three more hoeings and weedings may be required during the first three months after planting with the coming up of the crop. Where cane is planted in furrows or trenches these are gradually filled up ijn the course of interculture. The use of bullock-drawn implements, like blade harrows for mulching, junior hoes for interculture and weeding and ridgers for earthing up and covering the fertilizer, lessen the costs of these operations. The final earthing-up should be completed before the monsoon rains, and should generally synchronize with the application of the final dose of fertilizer. Good care in weeding and interculture helps the clumps to tiller early and form canes. The crop should be so managed that it grows rapidly to form a canopy over the interspaces. This shading helps to keep down the weeds, the costs of weeding and interculture and also the moisture losses from the soil surface.
Where the aim is to get crops of 75 tonnes and over per hectare, it is usual to earth up the standing crop in the rows. But whether the crop is earthed up or not it is very desirable to tie up the canes so that they may not sway during the winds, and lodge. The best way to do the tying is to bring together the stalks from adjacent rows and tie them together with their own trash and old leaves. In many places in southern India, cane is tied at two or three levels with twists of can trash, the twistline going from one end of the row to the other; sometimes the stalks are further propped up with bamboos. Many ryots sow castor or arhar (tur) seeds around a planted field of cane. This acts as a wind - break.

Sugarcane is a heavy feeder. A 70-tonne crop removes from the soil 85 to 110 kg of nitrogen, 180 to 330 kg of calcium. Adequate manuring, therefore, is essential for sustained high yields. According to the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, optimum dosages, timings and methods of application have been worked out for different agro-climatic conditions, varieties, seasons, etc. Green-manuring alone or in combination with fertilizer considerably increases the yield of sugarcane. Farmyard manure, compost, groundnut-cake, blood meal, fish-meal and several oilcake have been tried in sugarcane at the IISR, Shahjahanpur, Coimbatore, Padegaon and other stations and it was concluded that N contained in bulky manure is nearly 40-50% as effective as that of inorganic fertilizer. To derive full benefits of organic manure, integrated use with inorganics has been recommended. Incorporation of trash (5 tonnes/ha) with fertilizer N (75 k/ha) increased the sugarcane yield at Lucknow. Factory wastes like suphitation pressmud-cake (SPMC) have been used to supplement fertilizer N. Studies at the SBI, Coimbatore, and at the many research stations, particularly in the tropics, have indicated that 50-75 kg N/ha could be saved by the use of biofertilizers Azospirillum and Azotobacter. The pressmud has been found very useful source of nutrients, particularly for P and micronutrients, besides organic matter. During the last 3 decades pressmud-cake has assumed greater importance in cane cultivation. Studies at Padegaon (Maharashtra) and at the SBI have indicated that the pressmud can be enriched by mocrobes. Recent studies have indicated that phospho-bacteria can help improve P nutrition. Pocket manuring, blending urea with neem-cake or coal tar, spray application of urea and diammonium phosphate have improved both cane and sugar yields besides improving fertilizer-use efficiency. Studies at Anakapalle have proved the usefulness of crop logging technique of sugarcane nutrition, though its large-scale field adoption needs further efforts.

The maturity of sugarcane is generally recognized by the lower leaves gradually withering up and leaving progressively fewer green leaves at the top. A ripe cane, cut across with a sharp knife, shows against sunlight a slight sparkling in its flesh in contrast to the more watery cut surface of an unripe cane. A trial boiling of the juice and a satisfactory setting of gur would confirm the proper stage of the maturity of the crop. If the grower can keep and use a hand sugar refractometer reading of 20, the cane crop may be considered to have reached the stage of maturity. The Fehling's test for glucose provides a better technological assessment of the quality of the canes, the glucose content usually reaching vallues of less than 0.5% in the juice at peak maturity. In northern India, in a normal season, sugarcane ripens by about early December, but the sugar content of juice continues to rise till about the end of March. After that, the temperatures rise very high and the canes standing in the field gradually dry up. In the South, the crop continues to grow under favourable climatic conditions and it remains fresh for a longer period. Early varieties everywhere ripen about two to three weeks earlier, and the adsali, and the autumn-planted crop and ratoons also are ready for crushing well before the eksali plant cane; but in the latter part of the crushing season, the differences in juice quality between them are narrowed down. Maturity is delayed by late rains, the warm weather in the late season and high fertilizer doses. Where winters are severe, the quality of the juice gets depressed. Frost may damage the crop seriously, leading to the rotting of buds and the drying of leaves, renderings the cane unfit for gur -or sugar-making.

Before cutting the crop, it is customary to give the cane field a good irrigation, although under conditions obtaining in northern India, this irrigation does little or no good. Stalks are cut at the ground level, preferably after digging down the earthed-up ridges. The dried leaves are stripped off from the topmost mature internode where the stalks usually break easily. The harveted canes should always be processed quickly. In northern India, during the cold season, the harvested canes kept in shade may maintain the quality of the juice in a good condition for a day or two, but they lose in weight unless they are kept moist. In the late season and in tropical areas, the quick processing of the harvested cane is essential.