The Development of Site-specific Nutrient Management Recommendations for Sugarcane Culture in Kamphaeng Saen Soil Series, Central Western Region of Thailand

Abstract

This research aims to develop the site-specific nutrient recommendation and the scope for devising site-specific macronutrient recommendations for sugarcane in Northeast Thailand’s central western region. We further investigate optimal nutrient management for profit maximisation. The nutrient recommendations used here were created from DSSAT (Decision Support System for AgroTechnology Transfer), usingspatial soil data, climate, management, genetic coefficient and tailored fertilizer mixes generating various nitrogen rates specific to each study site. The proposed nutrient regimes were validated using experimental growth plots. The two original recommendations (based on soil analysis for sugarcane from DOA (Department of Agriculture (T1) and site-specific nutrient recommendation for sugarcane in Northeast (T2)) were compared to the DSSAT generated recommendations: site-specific nutrient recommendations for sugarcane (T3), one-half DSSAT recommended T3 N-rate (T4) and 1.5 times recommended T3 N-rate (T5). The experiment was carried out on plots comprised of the Kamphaeng Saen soil series. The result indicated that T3 (the DSSAT generated recommendation) did not significantly diverge from average yield of T2 (site-specific nutrient recommendation for sugarcane in Northeast) for both plant cane and first ratoon cane. However, the DSSAT recommendations significantly enhanced the yield over DOA (T1) and local farmer yields. The DSSAT generated recommendation not only reduced the cost of fertilizer, but resulted in increased profit over typical farmer practice. Therefore, we conclude that the wider use of DSSAT generated nutrient recommendations and applied site-specific nutrient recommendations for sugarcane in Northeast for similar soisl could  enhance sugarcane yield in central western region.