Sugarcane@100: New Sugarcane Sett Treatment Device

New ‘Sett treatment device’ for treatment of sugarcane setts/buds for healthy nursery

Sugarcane setts (seed material) are prone to infection by severe diseases like red rot, smut and other fungal diseases in the field after planting and it affects germination, growth and ultimately its yield of the crop. The normal practice recommended is to treat the setts by soaking overnight in solution of fungicides/ other solutions at recommended dosage by which the crop can be protected from infection from setts or soil. However practical difficulties and handling huge volumes of setts and cost involved in this technique has not made it feasible for adoption by the farmers. With an aim to treat huge volume of setts/buds in shortest possible time, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore developed a “Sett Treatment device” for treating the setts under reduced pressure in technical collaboration with ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering Regional Centre, Coimbatore.

·         By using this equipment, the sett treatment is done in 10-15 minutes with more effective diffusion of the chemicals or bio-inoculum into the sugarcane setts / buds.

·         Since the same chemical can be reused, there is a huge savings in chemical used for pretreatment, thus making the system environmentally friendly, addressing the issue of optimized chemical use in agriculture.

·         In red rot, smut and wilt endemic areas, fungicide treatment through this "sett treatment device" will protect the crop from sett -borne and soil borne inoculum. Thereby the crop is free from the disease for 3-4 months.

·         Once the crop is protected in young stage the disease build up in the field is reduced and further course of fungicide can be delivered through drip system if available, to protect the crop from the dreaded diseases

·         The device can be used directly for field planting by sugarcane farmers or in single bud nurseries to raise healthy seedlings.

Based on the successful results obtained in the field trials conducted at SBI, Coimbatore and disease endemic locations with prototype model developed, scaled up model was developed . The scaled up model could be hitched to the tractor and transported to the sugarcane field, making it very convenient to use. The project has been funded by IDP group of Department of Science and technology, Government of India.