Evaluation of four doses of a moisture retaining polymer in the soild and its influence of the development of sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) MEX69-290 variety, for seed

Abstract

The investigation was carried out in the period from May to November 2019, in the La Sandillera lot of the El Porfiado farm, San Francisco El Porfiado canton, San Luis La Herradura municipality, La Paz, El Salvador, in an area of 2,205 m2, the main objective was to evaluate four doses (60, 80, 100 and 120 Kg / ha) of moisture-retaining polymer in the soil and its influence on the development of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.), variety MEX69-290 for seed. An experimental design of Complete Random Blocks was used, with five treatments, four repetitions and 20 experimental units represented by plots divided into 5 rows with dimensions of 15 meters long by 1.40 meters between rows. The variables evaluated were: height of the stem, number of leaves, length of internodes, diameter of the stem, number of internodes, number of canes per linear meter, number of cuttings per cane and weight of the cane, likewise, the InfoStat program was used for the statistical analysis. Statistical differences were found in the variable height of the plant, being the best means per treatment when applying the doses of 60 Kg / ha (T1) and 120 Kg / ha (T4) with 2.16 and 2.15 m of height respectively in the first 6 months of cultivation. Statistical differences were obtained for the variable quantity of internodes, the dose of 120 kg / ha presented the best results for the variable number of internodes with a total of 20 internodes per plant, the doses of 60 (T1) and 80 kg / ha (T2) presented similar behaviors for this variable with 19 internodes per plant. For the variable number of cuttings per plant, the best results were found when applying the doses of 120 (T4) and 60 Kg / ha (T1) with 3.1 and 3 cuttings per plant. With the application of moisture-retaining polymer in the production of seed cane of the MEX69-290 variety, it was possible to considerably reduce the number of irrigations in a period of six months.