LEAVING SUGARCANE TRASH UNDISTURBED ON A LATERIC SOIL COMPARES FAVORABLY WITH CURRENTLY USED TRASH-DISPOSAL METHODS

Abstract

The production of sugar was not influenced by the various methods of handling sugarcane trash (aligning, aligning and furrowing, leaving undisturbed, or burning) on a field of Coto clay, a highly permeable lateritic soil at Isabela in northwestern Puerto Rico. No significant differences due to treatments were observed in organic-matter or nitrogen content, pH, C/N ration, permeability, quick drainage, water retained at various tensions, bulk density, or porosity, determined from soil samples taken after harvesting the sixth crop. The minimum infiltration capacity of the soils from the plots where the trash was burned or undisturbed was moderate, while that of the soils where the trash was aligned, or aligned and the clean banks furrowed, was moderately rapid. The yields from plots where the trash was left undisturbed over the surface were as high as those where it was either burned, aligned, or aligned and the clean banks furrowed. Trash disposal is generally expensive. By leaving the trash undisturbed, cultivation costs can be reduced considerably. Weeds are usually smothered under the trash. In areas where drainage problems are not very acute, it may prove economically advantageous in the long run to follow this practice. Furthermore, direct moisture-evaporation losses from the soil will probably be reduced by mulching the whole surface soil.