A field experiment was conducted at the Farm of Regional Centre, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Karnal, during 1998–99 and 1999–2000, to find out the feasibility of growing sugarcane at row spacing of 150 cm required for mechanical harvesting by austoft harvester. Planting of 172,144 buds/ha in paired rows of 40: 110 cm, conventional row spacing of 75 cm with setts placed along the rows and wide row spacing of 150 cm with setts placed across the rows (at equal seed rates in all the cases) gave at par cane yield/ha. Intercropping of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori & Paol.), Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czernj. & Cosson], coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.) reduced the cane yield by 17.2, 7.5, 6.9 and 2.0%, respectively, than sole sugarcane, but the significant reduction was recorded with wheat only. Maximum net monetary return of Rs 108,470/ha was obtained from onion + sugarcane system, with higher benefit: cost ratio of 2.90. Based on cane-equivalent yield/ha, closer row spacing of 75 cm with setts placed along the rows recorded comparable cane yield to row spacing of 150 cm coupled with setts placed across the rows (2 budded setts) with onion as an intercrop in both the cases. Thus, mechanical harvesting with austoft harvester is feasible by planting sugarcane at 150 cm spacing by adopting seed rate of 172,144 buds/ha with onion as an intercrop without any economic loss to the growers.
Mechanical harvesting, Intercropping, Sugarcane-equivalent yield, Sett placement
