Owing to the high cost associated with planting, planting materials deserves attention in a sugar industry thriving to be competitive in the world market and also to enhance profitability. Accordingly, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications to determine the effect of number of buds per sett (one bud, two buds (control), three buds, four buds, randomly chopped setts (containing variable buds per sett) and whole stalks) on the early growth, yield and quality of two sugarcane varieties (NCo334 and B52/298) at Wonji/Shoa Sugar Estates on the plant and first ratoon crops. The analysis of variance indicated that sprouting was significantly (p<0.05) affected by the main effects of variety and type of planting material. Number of tillers and millable canes were affected by the main effect of variety and the interaction of variety with the type of planting materials in the plantcane, however, none of the main effects and their interaction had significant effect in the first ratoon crop. Cane yield was not affected by the main effects or their interaction in both the plant and first ratoon crops. Similarly, sucrose percent cane and estimated sugar yield in the plant crop were not affected by the main effects and their interaction, however, in the first ratoon crop the main effect of the variety were found to be significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is no significant difference among the type of planting materials utilized in this study.

Field experiment was conducted at Finchaa Sugar Estate, to evaluate and select sugarcane varieties with better agronomic performances under Finchaa agro-ecological condition. Eleven sugarcane varieties are namely, :B58 230

No abstract

Wonji-Shoa and Metahara sugarcane plantations experience reduced sucrose content (%) during the starting period of sugarcane crushing due to the combined influence of high (>27°C) temperature and the presence of high residual soil moisture. Studies elsewhere showed the potential of chemical ripeners in boosting the sucrose content (%), where natural ripening is deterred by these challenges. Accordingly, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the responsiveness of selected sugarcane varieties to chemical ripeners at both plantations. The treatments consisted of a factorial combination of four sugarcane varieties (B52298, NCo334, C86-56, and SP70-1284) and six ripener treatments: (1) Ethephon™(720 g ai ha−1), (2) Fusilade Forte™(25.6 g ai ha−1), (3) Moddus™ (250 g ai ha−1), (4) Ethephon™ (720 g ai ha−1) + Fusilade Forte™ (25.6 g ai ha−1), (5) Moddus™ (250 g ai ha−1) + Fusilade Forte™ (25.6 g ai ha−1), and (6) Unsprayed (control). The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The results showed a significant ( p = 0.025 ) and highly significant ( p = 0.001 ) variety by ripener interaction in stalk height and sucrose content, respectively, while the main effect ripener highly significantly affected stalk weight ( p = 0.001 ) and sucrose yield ( p = 0.003 ). The variety C86-56 sprayed with combinations of Ethephon™ + Fusilade Forte™ and Moddus™ + Fusilade Forte™ had the shortest stalk heights of 1.27 and 1.29 m, respectively, compared with the control. Ethephon™ + Fusilade Forte™ combination resulted in the highest reduction of stalk weight (8.36%), while the lowest was recorded in the sole Moddus™ treatment (6.31%). From the ripener treatments, the Moddus™ + Fusilade Forte™ combination and Ethephon™ + Fusilade Forte™ combination improved sucrose yield by 1.42 and 1.34 t ha−1, respectively, compared with the control. However, in economic terms, the Moddus™ + Fusilade Forte™ combination treatment resulted in the highest marginal rate of return of 1244%. Therefore, the Moddus™ + Fusilade Forte™ combination ripener treatment was found to be promising to be evaluated at a commercial scale on immature sugarcane varieties B52-298, NCo334, and SP70-1284.

The study was conducted at Metahara Sugar Factory Citrus orchard fields in 2010/11 cropping season with the objective of evaluating the efficacy of Ethiodemethrin 2.5% EC and Karate 5% for the control of citrus leafminer. In this study, seven treatments were used i.e. Ethiodemethrin 2.5% EC at 20, 30 and 50 ml per tree and Karate 5% EC at 0.72 and 1.10 ml per tree including free checks. Treatments were given at once and twice application frequencies; the second application was applied after fifteen days of the first application. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with four replications. The study indicated that Ethiodemethrin 2.5% EC at 20, 30 and 50 ml tree-1 and Karate 5% EC at 0.72 and 1.10 ml tree-1 had satisfactory control potential of citrus leafminer (CLM) for a maximum of two weeks period as compared to the untreated check. Therefore, the orchard could use Ethiodemethrin 2.5% EC at 20 ml tree-1 and Karate 5% EC at 0.72 ml tree-1 for the control of leafminer. Moreover, using single control tactics does not provide utmost control of CLM in the orchard.