| Abstrakt: |
A study to evaluate the long-term effects of post-harvest crop residue management on the yield of sugarcane, Saccharum spp. hybrids, grown on silty clay loam (Vertic Haplaquoll) was initiated in 1996 and continued for three production cycles, a total of 10 crops. The debilitating effects on ratoon crops of residue retention are well documented, but the cumulative effects across production cycles have not been quantified in Louisiana's temperate, humid environment. Residue management treatments included: 1) pre-harvest burning (B); 2) post-harvest residue swept to the row furrows (S); and 3) full retention of the residue (R). Retaining the residue resulted in numerical reductions for yield, stalk population and theoretical recoverable sucrose (TRS), but only reductions in cane and sugar yield were statistically significant. Burning, B, resulted in an average sugar yield increase of 0.96 Mg ha-1 over R and 0.64 Mg ha-1 over S. This study clearly demonstrated the temporal nature of the influence on yield of residue retention, as yield reductions from non removal of crop residue were confined to ratoon crops within a production cycle and the negative effects did not carryover to the plant-cane crops of subsequent cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
