Evaluation of Drip Irrigation System and Fertigation of Nitrogen in Sugarcane

Field experiments conducted in sugarcane revealed that scheduling irrigation through drip daily at 80 percent of pan evaporation (PE) registered the highest cane yield (168.2 t ha-1) in main of cv. CO 86032 which was followed by 60 and 40 percent drip irrigation (148.5 and 140.9 t ha-1 respectively) and were significantly superior over surface method of irrigation at 0.75 IW/CPE ratio (126.2 t ha-1). In the ratoon crop, drip irrigation treatments at 40, 60 and 80 percent level of pan evaporation produced comparable cane yields (124.4, 131.7 and 128.9 t ha-1 respectively). Highest water use efficiency was observed in 40% PE treatment for both main crop and ratoon (150.3 and 146.8 kg ha mm-1 respectively). Nitrogen levels did not show any marked difference on cane yield and application of 175 kg N ha-1 as fertigation was found to be optimum and economical.