Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the research farm of the Sugarcane Research Institute, Uda Walawe,Sri Lanka to find out the feasibility of reducing gross irrigation water requirement of irrigated sugarcane by practising alternate-row furrow irrigation method in Reddish Brown Earth soil (RBE). The effects of the three treatments, i.e., every furrow irrigation, alternate-row furrow irrigation and rain-fed on growth and performances of plant and ratoon yield were evaluated in randomised completely block design (RCBD) with 4 replicates. The results revealed that mean productivity of irrigation water use in alternate-row furrow irrigation 3 method was 16 kg/m and was 45% higher than that for every furrow irrigation. The alternate-row furrow irrigation method reduced the consumption of water by maha-and yala-planted sugarcane by 39% and 43% respectively without reducing sugarcane yield. In addition, sugarcane juice quality was improved significantly by alternate-row furrow irrigation method.