Greetings to all our stakeholders as we transition through spring to the summer season with hopes of good rainfall in many of our sugarcane growing areas. Under such conditions, ground cover becomes important, particularly for recently harvested fields that may be exposed to water runoff, with potential soil erosion. Soil condition and health are critical to sustainable sugarcane production. Hence the need to ensure the soils are not entirely exposed to excessive water runoff.

In as much as soil health is critical for good sugarcane yields; weed management is important for soil crop nutrient flow. Agriculture production has typically been secured through effective weed management, often with agrochemical applications.

Recently growers expressed concern about the extensive flowering of sugarcane in many rainfed fields. This is not a new phenomenon and has been studied by various teams throughout the world. Concern has largely been on likely impact on sucrose accumulation. It is important to note that many factors influence flowering that also affect sucrose yield, such as genotype, crop age, photoperiod, temperature and drought stress. In this edition, we address these concerns with an article focusing on “Varietal differences in flowering”.

Flowering is a genetically determined trait of sugarcane and associated clones. In many instances breeders have selected for non-flowering characteristics to produce varieties conducive high sugar yields. Young leaves are required to produce the flowering stimulus, so that defoliation during the brief photoinductive period can prevent flowering. Studies were conducted to test this hypothesis by measuring the percentage of flowering, cane yield, and juice quality of culms following defoliation and periods of photoinduction. Results indicated a significant reduction in flowering with a non-significant increase in cane weight and juice quality culms. Although implementation of this approach may be too costly for large-scale growers, it could be useful for small-scale growers.

Understanding rainfall patterns could serve as a good management tool to influence flowering when combined with knowledge of the performance of specific varieties. Sugarcane could be subjected to water stress by withholding irrigation, that in turn is known to reduce flowering. However, management of drought stress in sugarcane requires full understanding of the variety, soil moisture content, intensity of evapotranspiration and stringent monitoring. This makes the implementation of drought stress in sugarcane is complex and not recommended for growers.

We hope that as you read the various articles within this publication the information and knowledge will enable sustainable production and better productivity, with better management practices. A brief focus is presented on how SASRI engages with small – scale growers to improve knowledge and understanding of soil data combined with variety performance information for decision making.

We also present several other articles along with “Topical Tips” to all our readers. It is our considered view that you will enjoy reading and find the articles useful for your decision making in managing the sugarcane crop.