MAXIMISATION OF FARM PROFIT BY PAIRED ROW SYSTEMS IN CANE CULTIVATION

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of planting systems on sugarcane yield. The conventional (1 m row spacing), paired row (0.75 by I .5 m spacing) and wider space (1.5 m spacing) planting systems produced statistically similar cane yields of 107.5, 110.2, and 105.9 tlha, respectively. Total production costs incurred for the different cultural practices in each planting system were lowest in the paired row planting system (R 30121) followed by the wider space planting (R 33571) and conventional planting systems (R 38105). Based on these results, it would appear that the paired row planting system would be the easiest to manage and most profitable for sugarcane production in India.