Effect of Intra-row Sett Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Sugarcane Varieties at Metahara Sugar Estate

Sugarcane stalk population is a key determinant of cane yield. However, increasing cane stalk population requires denser planting, which incurs additional costs of planting material. Therefore, an experiment was conducted at Metahara Sugar Estate plantation from 2005-2010 to determine the effect of four intra-row sett spacing [10 cm between setts, 5 cm between setts, setts placed end-to-end, and setts placed ear-to-ear (5 cm overlapping)] on the performance of three sugarcane varieties (B52298, NCo334 and B41227). The experiment was carried out on class II (light) and class IV (heavy) soils in a split plot design. Combined analysis of the data over soils indicated that sucrose percent of cane, cane yield, and estimated sugar yield did not show significant differences in response to spacing as well as due to the interaction effect of spacing and variety. However, the number of millable canes at harvest was significantly (P ≤ 0.01) affected by the main effect of spacing for the plant cane and mean of crops (plant cane and ratoons). Ten (10) cm intra-row spacing between setts was found to be best to use since it economized planting material of all three sugarcane varieties without compromising both cane and sugar yields.