Tillage Technical Service of in the Control of Weeds in Sugarcane

Abstract

Soil farming plays an important role in the weeds control when accomplished and planned appropriately; however, deficiencies were identified in the quality of the work and in the effective control of undesirable plants by means of technical supervisions, what demonstrated the necessity to improve this process in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show the peculiarities in the weed control of the Technical Service of Soil Farming (ATPLS). The work was carried out at the Melanio Hernández Base Unit, of the Sancti Spíritus Sugar Company. Were identified the limiting factors in soil farming, periods among works, predominant undesirable plants, types of herbicides for conditioning and preservation, conditions of the surface of the land and the date of the processes of soil preparation and plantation. The conclusions indicated that the 53 % of the 1 717 hectares planned for soil preparation have potentialities for the use of a scarifier, which facilitates a more effective weed control, mainly those reproduced by rhizomes. Minimum tillage variants were recommended together with upgrade herbicides in 26 % of the area in order to achieve a better undesirable plants control from the primary soil farming, and also preservation herbicide to cover a 23 % of the area, maintaining a similar percentage combining mechanized control and appropriate handling of the inter-operations periods in order to minimize the expenses. To implement the ATPLS for a better weed control from the soil preparation and to incorporate three scarifiers at least in the inventory was recommended.