Preliminary Study on Sugarcane Variety Performance at Tendaho Sugar Project

Proc. Ethiop. Sugar. Ind. Bienn. Conf., 1:156-165 (2009) SHORT COMMUNICATION Preliminary Study on Sugarcane Variety Performance at Tendaho Sugar Project Feyissa Tadesse 1, Tadesse Negi 1 and Aregaw Assefa 2 1 Ethiopian Sugar Development Agency, Research Directorate P.O. Box 15, Wonji, Ethiopia 2 Tendaho Sugar Factory Project, P.O.Box. 2574, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Abstract Sugarcane varieties yield potential assessment was made at Tendaho sugar project using seven commercial sugarcane varieties in existing sugarcane plantation, B52298, NCo 334, Co 740, Co 449, B41227 Co 680 and N 14. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with two replications. Data were collected on sprouting, tiller count, plant height measurement and plant population. At harvesting plantcane (14.5 months age) and first ratoon (11 months), number of millable stalks, mean weight, height, diameter and number of internodes were recorded on 10 stalk samples. Cane yield and juice quality parameters ( Brix, Pol, reducing sugar and fiber content) were also determined. Analysis result indicated that there was overall sprouting (88.57%) for the varieties with the ranges of 82% for Co 740 to 95% for B52298 at 25 th days after planting during plantcane establishment. Moreover, the varieties showed higher cane tonnage performance than what was proposed for the area for both the plantcane and first ratoon crops. Besides, there was fast plant growth in comparison to that of the existing sugarcane plantations. However, the sugar percent cane, in both crops, was generally lower than the existing sugar factories. Therefore, varieties commercially grown in the existing sugarcane plantations could be pulled to Tendaho for large scale cultivation and realization of the project. Introduction Although various studies had suggested the availability of incredible potential to spur new sugarcane development in Ethiopia, until the year 2004 the total area occupied by cane for sugar production had been limited to the three sugar factories, i.e. Wonji-Shoa, Metahara and Finchaa. In its 50 years existence, the sugar sub-sector of the country had only about 24,000 hectares of cane area with total annual domestic sugar production of about 260,000 tons. According to the market assessment study made in 1993/94, the domestic consumption of sugar was estimated to increase by 6.5 percent per annum, whereas the pace of sugar ISSN 2074-1561 print version, http://www.esda.gov.et

Sugarcane variety performance 157 development in the sub-sector was too slow to cope up with the growing domestic demand. Cognizant of these situations, the three sugar factories had embarked various optimization and expansion programs to boost their sugar production. Besides, the effort to establish new sugar factory at Tendaho is underway. This location was said to have considerable potential irrigable land up to 85,000 hectares out of which a net area of 50,000ha would be devoted to sugarcane cultivation and supply sugarcane milling factory of 26,000 TCD at Tendaho. In commercial cane sugar production involving such a large area of land, identification of suitable high yielding sugarcane varieties is very decisive since using superior cane cultivars is a core factor for the realization of the project and to optimize production and ensure profitability. However, at Tendaho, there is no information regarding cane growth and adaptability of sugar cane varieties to suggest suitable one to meet the proposed daily crushing need of the forthcoming huge sugar factory, and thus it was found necessary to conduct a preliminary study to assess performance of sugarcane varieties at Tendaho using varieties from the existing sugarcane plantations. Therefore, this study was initiated to generate actual information on sugarcane varieties performance and observe their cane and sugar production potential at Tendaho sugar project site.. Materials and Methods Description of the Study Area Tendaho sugar project site is located in the Lower Awash Plain (LAP) in the Afar Regional Government State. It is located at about 610 km North-East of Addis Ababa, (11 o 45 ) 11 o 50' N latitude, 41 o 3 E longitude with an elevation of 374 m.a.s.l. LAP receives annual rainfall of about 200 mm with mean maximum and minimum temperature of 37.72 o C and 22.91 o C, respectively. Methodology Seven commercial varieties with relatively good cane and sugar yield performance having higher percent share of the cane plantation of Methara were planted. The varieties were B52298, NCo 334, Co 740, Co 449, B41227, Co 680 and N 14. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with two replications. A plot size was 4 furrows of five meter length each. Data Collected and Analysis Sprouting: emerging shoots were counted at five days interval starting from the 10 th day after planting and through the 25 th day until germination was over.

Feyissa et al. 158 Plant population count and plant height measurement: These data were recorded at monthly interval starting from the third month after planting for plantcane and after the first irrigation for first ratoon to the 10 th month. o Brix: To observe the maturity/ripening trend of the plantcane, o Brix measurement using hand-refractometer was taken when the cane was 10, 12, and 14 months. Data at harvest: At harvest number of millable stalks, stalk weight, height and diameter and number of internodes were recorded on 10 stalk samples. Cane yield: This was calculated based on cane stalk weight harvested from the central two rows of 1.45mx5m area. Juice quality: o Brix, Pol %, sugar and fiber % cane was analyzed. Finally, all the data were analyzed using MSTAT-C computer software (MSTAT 1988). Results and Discussion Performance of the Varieties Sprouting During early establishment of sugarcane, one of the basic criteria for measuring cane growth performance is germination count made at different intervals. Although there were minor variations in sprout percentage among the seven test varieties, the percent achieved at 25 th day after planting ranged from 82 % to 95 % for Co740 and B52298, respectively (Table 1). This range of sprouting is generally considered as highly satisfactory under field condition both in Ethiopia and other countries (Sundara, 2000). Table 1. Mean sprout percentages of seven sugarcane varieties at Tendaho sugar project site, June-July 2004 Variety Mean germination percentage Days after planting 10 15 20 25 43.57 69.86 84.57 88.57 Generally, faster sprouting of buds was observed in all varieties; for example, at the 10 th day after planting, an average sprout percentage of 44 % was achieved. This could be resulted from the warmer soil temperature and the well arranged irrigation activities of the site. Similarly, Rao (1990) reported that faster sprouting, among others cane attributes, mainly depends on the warmer soil temperature and aerated soil condition and irrigation of the area.

Sugarcane variety performance 159 Cane growth (height measurements) In general, for the seven cane varieties included in this study the highest height increment was observed between the 3 rd and 4 th month of age (Table 2). Such height increment is usually observed at Wonji Shoa and Metahara sugarcane plantations two months latter i.e. between 5 and 7 months of age (Appendix 1 and 2). At 7 th months after planting, the actual observed plant height measured from soil surface to the top visible dewlap (TVD), was by far higher at Tendaho than what is usually observed at Wonji Shoa and Metahara at the similar age. The two extensively cultivated varieties in the sugarcane plantations of Ethiopia, namely NCo334 and B52298 have attained a mean height of 262 and 234 cm, respectively at the age of seven month at Tendaho whereas the expected height of the two at Wonji Shoa and Metahara at this age were only 131 and 124 cm, and 132 and 130 cm, respectively (Appendix 1 and 2). Table 2. Mean monthly growth/height measurements and plant population for seven sugarcane varieties at Tendaho sugar project, 2004-2005 Varieties Ages (months) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean plant height (cm) 97.14 155 194 223.14 246.14 266.14 275.29 278.57 Mean plant population count 345.6 315.0 310.1 324.6 343.7 352.1 359.6 - The growth pattern as observed from the height measurement from the 3 rd to the 10 th month of age, in general, was more or less similar for all varieties. However, Co 680 had been consistently taller than any of the other varieties considered through out the growth period. Until the age of eight month, the recorded height was the lowest for N14. In the later ages, starting from nine months, it had improved to height even greater than B52298 (Table 2). In ratoon crop, there was a continuous height increment until the age of 9 month after planting for all varieties. During the age of 9 month the varieties attained the overall mean height of 266.57 cm. By that age, the shorter variety was N 14 (244.50cm) and the tallest was Co 680 (307.5cm). Through all the growth period, Co 680 was the leading and N 14 was the least in plant height. The latter two varieties further showed similar plant height growth pattern in the plantcane. In general, regardless of the varieties considered, the rate of cane height increment was more or less linear until the age of eight months. After wards, although there was increment in height the rate was very slow. This is clear indication to the attainment of reasonable millable plant height in the area earlier than the existing sugar estates. This could be at least partially attributed to the

Feyissa et al. 160 relatively high temperature at Tendaho. This finding is in agreement with what was noted by Sundara (2000). The strong wind, 8.84 m hr -1 (Appendix 3 and 4) when the cane was eight months of age, might have caused many of the stalks to lodge. This had made monthly height measurement difficult there after. However, N 14 seemed to be the least affected by the wind, as its plant height at the time was the lowest of all. Plant population As it is indicated in Table 2, plant population has declined in almost all test varieties in cane age between 3 to 4 months following manual moulding. However, a steady increment had been observed starting from 4 month of age till the 7 th month except for N 14 which had tillered profusely early in the growth period (from 3 rd to 4 th month of age) but with sharp decline thereafter till the age of seven months. In ratoon crop, there was sharp population reduction during the age of 3 to 4 months. While, as of the age of 5 to 9 months, there was almost stable plant population. Based on the overall mean values, the varieties exhibited two groups of population dynamics trends. In the contrary to that of plant height, varieties N 14, NCo 334 and B52298 gave higher plant population forming one group of varieties. The rests of varieties also fall in the lesser populated in comparison to the first group. This exceptionally high rate of tiller mortality following peak formation of new tillers can be attributed to the fierce competition among plants for growth factors, mainly sunlight (Sundara, 2000). Throughout the experimental period, B41227 had the lowest plant population count, whereas B52298 had achieved the highest population at the age of 10 months. Towards the end of the growth period, the increasing trend of stalk population indicated that the stalk population had not been stabilized and thus observations of similar nature in the area should be extended further until the complete stalk population dynamic is observed. Stalk length and weight Regardless of the varieties considered, the mean stalk length at harvest, i.e. at age of 14 months was high compared to the other sugarcane plantations. This could be ascribed to the high rate of stalk elongation observed in the early stages of the cane growth at Tendaho. However, the cane cultivars considered in this study showed variations in millable stalk height at harvesting. Co 680 and N 14 achieved the highest height recorded, i.e. 290 cm whereas B52298 and B41227 had attained a height of only 215 and 224 cm, respectively. In ratoon crop, the grand mean of stalk length for the varieties was 271.3 cm with the range of 343.4 cm for Co 680 to 242.3 cm for Co 449. Moreover, during plantcane performance, Co 680 was consistently taller than the other varieties. However, N 14 which was one of the shortest up to the age of 10 months showed dramatic increase in height thereafter and its height was comparable to that of Co

Sugarcane variety performance 161 680 at the time of harvesting. This indicated that there would be a possibility of growing different varieties of specific adaptation at Tendaho through screening of several varieties with diverse morphological and physiological characteristics. The highest and lowest mean cane weights per millable stalk were observed for Co 740 (1.65 kg) and B52298 (1.15 kg). Generally, the overall mean stalk weight of 1.41 kg was recorded at Tendaho in this experiment. Stalk thickness (girth) The data analysis indicated that none of the variety can be classified as thin stalked (less than 2cm in diameter). According to the standard cane thickness classification, the test varieties had a mean diameter ranging from 2.5 to 3.0 cm, and thus categorized as medium stalk thickness. When the varieties are considered individually, Co 740 had the highest mean stalk thickness (2.92 cm), followed by B41227 (2.80 cm) and Co 449 (2.70 cm). In ratoon crop, B52298 was the thickest in stalk diameter (2.52 cm) followed by B41227 (2.47 cm). The thinner variety was Co 449 (92.33 cm). For all the varieties, with no exception, the stalks were thicker at the middle (2.50 cm), thinner at the bottom (2.32 cm) and intermediate at the top (2.48 cm). This was more attributed to cane logging at about the age of 7 th month and cane growth after lodging might have contributed to the partial increase in thickness of the top part of the cane stalk. Cane yield and productivity The result of this trial indicated that mean cane yield (t ha -1 ) and cane productivity (t ha -1 m -1 ) for all considered varieties were 1650 and 118, respectively (Table 3). The three high cane yielding varieties in the order of their performance were Co 740, Co 680 and N 14 with mean cane yield and cane productivity of 187.7 and 13.4, 180.0 and 12.9, and 176.5 t ha -1 and 12.6 ha -1 m -1, respectively. In ratoon crop, the highest cane yield per hectare (t ha -1 ) was produced by variety Co 740 (117.5 t ha -1 ) compared to the lowest value of 84.5 t ha -1 produced by variety Co 449 (Table 4). Variety Co 740 was also the leading one in cane yield in plantcane performance. Generally, the value recorded for mean stalk weight per stalk was lower than that of plantcane.

Feyissa et al. 162 Table 3. Production and productivity potential of plantcane crop for seven sugarcane varietiesat Tendaho. Variety Estimated cane yield (t ha -1 ) Estimated cane productivity (t ha -1 m -1 ) Sugar Yield (t ha -1 ) B52298 156.0 11.1 13.8 Co 680 180.0 12.9 15.47 B41227 133.6 9.5 11.57 Co 449 163.0 11.6 15.44 NCo 334 158.7 11.3 11.18 Co 740 187.7 13.4 16.58 N 14 176.5 12.6 14.88 Mean 165.0 11.8 14.13 LSD (0.05) ns ns ns Table 4. Production and productivity potential of first ratoon crop for seven sugarcane varieties at Tendaho Varieties Cane Yield (t ha -1 ) Estimated cane productivity ( t ha -1 m -1 ) Sugar Yield (t ha -1 ) B52298 102.5 9.3 6.78 Co 680 121.5 11.0 4.76 B41227 97.1 8.8 4.91 Co 449 84.5 7.7 3.80 NCo 334 88.6 8.1 6.00 Co 740 117.5 10.7 8.46 N 14 99.8 9.1 5.17 Mean 101.6 9.2 5.70 LSD (0.05) NS NS NS Juice qualities and sugar yield The Brix, %Pol, and recoverable sugar values were lower both in plantcane as well as ratoon crop as compared to other plantation, which could be resulted from the severe cane lodging occurred at the age of 8 months. For this reason there was no clear trend of improvement in either percent pol or estimate

Sugarcane variety performance 163 recoverable sugar from 10 to 14 month of age. However, mean fiber percent cane average over all varieties was increased from 12.1% at 10 th month of age to 14.4% at the age of 14 th month. The estimated sugar yield at the age of 14 months was the highest for Co 740 (16.58 t ha -1 ), followed by Co 680 (15.47 t ha -1 ), and Co 449 (15.44 t ha -1 ) as shown in Table 4. The other sugarcane varieties which occupy about 50 % of the cultivated area in the existing plantations resulted sugar yield lower than the overall mean value of varieties (14.13 t ha -1 ). These were NCo 334, B41227 and B52298 which gave a mean sugar yield of 11.18, 11.57 and 13.80 t ha -1, respectively; however variety N 14 showed above average performance. Table 5. Juice quality and fiber content at different age of the plantcane crop Age (months) Brix %Pol Purity Field Yield Fiber %cane 10 14.955 11.497 69.729 8.416 12.109 12 13.539 10.25 75.707 7.399 11.464 14 13.569 9.751 73.755 8.551 14.41 Mean 14.02 10.50 73.06 8.12 12.66 LSD (0.05) ns 1.389 ns ns 1.232 CV% 9.87 8.25 5.37 11.30 6.25 Conclusion Sprout percentage in plantcane and vegetative growth characteristics among the tested varieties were in general satisfactory as observed in plantcane crop as well as its first ratoon. Juice quality parameters were, however, poor almost for all varieties in both pantcane and the first ratoon. Generally, the experimental result showed a promising potential and thus the observed mean cane yield is a good indication of the possibility to supply the proposed 26,000 tons of cane per day (TCD) for the factory upon full establishment of the plantation, provide that the cultural practices are optimized.

Feyissa et al. 164 References Sundara B.2000. Sugarcane cultivation. VIKAS Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. Rao PN. 1990. Recent advances in sugarcane. K.C.P. Limited, India. Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise. 2005. Tendaho Dam and Irrigation Project Main Report. Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise in Association with Water and Power Consultancy Services (India), Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Annex Annex Table 1. Standard cane growth (plant height increment) and stalk count for plantcane at Wonji-Shoa Sugarcane Plantation Age (month) Plant height (cm) B52298 NCo 334 B41227 N 14* No. of Plant No. of Plant No. of Plant No. stalks height stalks/ha height stalks height stalks ha -1 (cm) (cm) ha -1 4 142 148 118 5 62 133 79 141 77 113 6 96 126 107 138 11 110 7 124 120 131 131 140 107 8 149 115 152 127 165 104 9 171 111 170 124 187 102 10 190 107 186 121 207 100 11 208 103 201 118 225 98 12 224 100 214 116 241 97 13 238 97 226 113 256 95 14 252 94 298 11 270 94 15 265 92 248 109 283 92 16 277 89 258 107 295 91 17 288 87 268 106 307 90 18 299 85 276 104 317 89 19 308 286 327 20 * Standard values are not yet set for this variety (cm) ha -1 of

Sugarcane variety performance 165 Annex Table 2. Standard values of plant height at different ages of growth for plantcane crop at Metahara sugarcane plantation (B1/B2) Age (month) Variety NCo 334 Co 449 Co 740* B41227 Co 680* B52298 3 4 51 5 85 120 120 60 6 107 155 155 97 7 132 186 186 130 *Standard values are not yet set for this variety Annex Table 3. Tendaho meteorological data during the experiment period of plantcane (June 2004 July 2005) Month Wind Velocity (m hr -1 ) Air Temperature Relative Humidity Sunshine (hr/day) Evaporation (mm/day Mean Max. ( 0 C) Mean Min. ( 0 C) Highest Max. ( 0 C) Lowest Min ( 0 C) June 2004 5.07 42.8 27.3 44.5 23.0 31.0 8.9 DNA 0.0 July 2004 5.87 41.7 27.7 44.0 22.5 38.1 7.7 DNA 17.0 Aug 2004 5.63 41.0 26.7 44.0 22.0 45.8 8.0 DNA 45.8 Sept 2004 3.44 37.8 25.5 43.0 22.0 43.0 7.2 DNA 16.5 Oct 2004 3.84 37.7 21.5 40.0 16.5 44.0 9.7 DNA 0.0 Nov 2004 4.71 35.4 19.2 37.5 16.0 49.0 10.1 DNA 0.0 Dec 2004 5.39 33.1 19.8 35.0 15.0 53.0 8.7 DNA 0.0 Jan 2005 4.97 33.1 19.9 35.5 10.0 54.0 7.5 15.1 0.0 Feb 2005 8.84 36.0 20.2 40.0 13.5 47.0 9.6 14.1 0.0 Mar 2005 5.96 39.5 24.3 41.6 18.0 47.0 9.1 16.3 3.2 Rainfall (mm) Apr 2005 6.71 39.2 24.1 43.0 20.0 44.0 9.6 15.9 37.9 May 2005 4.98 40.9 26.7 43.5 20.5 39.0 9.9 15.9 10.7 June 2005 5.37 43.2 28.1 45.0 21.8 31.0 8.6 17.1 10.4 July 2005 6.88 40.7 26.1 44.3 20.5 40.0 7.7 16.7 64.2 Total 205.7