The Growth and Yield of the Forage Sugarcane Variety KRFo93-1 Cultivated with Three Harvests Per Year

Abstract

The recommended harvest cycle is two harvests per year in forage sugarcane cultivation. Here, the validity of three harvests per year was studied using forage sugarcane variety KRFo93-1. Two harvests per year plot (1^st and 2^nd crops) as control and three harvests per year plot (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd crops) were established. Annual dry matter yields of the two harvests per year plot in the 1^st and 2^nd years were 3.38 and 5.69 kg m^-2, respectively, and those of three harvests per year were 1.90 and 3.12 kg m^-2, respectively. Thus, in both years, the annual dry matter yields were significantly higher in two harvests per year than in three harvests per year. The productivity in the 3^rd crops in the three harvests per year plot was lower because its growth duration coincided with the low temperature season. In the 2^nd year, the ratoon starting date of the 1^st crop in the two harvests per year plot was the same as that of the 1^st crop in the three harvests per year plot, but the stem length of the former was significantly longer than that of the latter. This means that ratoon growth was more vigorous in the two harvests per year system and it is concluded that the conventional cultivation cycle of two harvests per year is appropriate for forage sugarcane.