Economic Evaluation of Water-Saving Irrigation Practices for Sustainable Sugarcane Production in Guangxi Province, China

Impact of climate change on sugarcane (Saccharum spp. interspecific hybrids) crop growth, development and productivity remains unclear globally. In China, the per capita available water resource amounts to only 1/4th of the global average. The limited water is one of the most significant constraints for sustainable agriculture development and crop productivity in China, and thus water-saving irrigation technology can reduce the seasonal water shortage in agricultural crop production, improve crop yield and quality, and enhance sustainable agricultural crop development. Keeping this in view, we conducted a field experiment at Guangxi sugarcane-growing hilly dry land with steep slope from 2017 to 2020 in plant and two ratoon crops. Results showed that bud germination (%), tillering rate, plant height and millable cane were not significantly different in spray and drip irrigation treatments. As compared to control, spray irrigation and drip irrigation (DI) remarkably increased the crop growth and yield. Drip irrigation produced a significantly higher cane production, consumed less irrigation water (65%) and provided maximum irrigation water use efficiency. Our study suggested that DI was far more effective in conserving water for irrigation and could be recommended and adopted in Guangxi and similar crop production regions.