Abstract
The significance of trash containing 0.3 to 0.5% N in the N nutrition of sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid sp.) was investigated in pot- and field experiments using15N-labelled trash. The data obtained from the pot study with 2 silty-clay loams (a Humic Nitosol and a Humic Acrisol) showed that surface-applied trash (10 tonnes/ha), although ground to pass a 1-mm sieve, contributed less than 10% of N removed by sugarcane. Uptake of trash N was most active during the initial 6 months of the experiment though at the end of the study period of 18 months less than 15% of trash N was altogether recovered by sugarcane.
In the absence of fertilizer N in a field study on the Humic Acrisol (C/N ratio 22), unground trash (5 tonnes. ha−1) depressed soil N uptake by sugarcane by immobilizing available soil N. The field study moreover confirmed that the contribution of trash N in the supply of N to sugarcane is negligible. The value of trash would reside in its capacity to increase over the long term the organic matter level in the soils.
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Kee Kwong, K.F.N., Deville, J., Cavalot, P.C. et al. Value of cane trash in nitrogen nutrition of sugarcane. Plant Soil 102, 79–83 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370904
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02370904