Effect of Micaschist Powder in Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) Farming on Ferrallitic Soils of Mbandjock (Cameroon, Central Africa)

Abstract

This study evaluates the fertilizing potential of micaschist powder in sugarcane farming on ferrallitic soils of the Mbandjok area in Cameroon. These soils are poor in exchangeable cations and assimil able phosphorus, very acidic, with low to moderate CEC. An experimental design, which consisted in a randomized Fischer block, is composed of six replications of five treatments:T0: conventional fertilization (Ureemulticote 39 00, 150 kg ha-1; MAP, 125kg ha-1; KCl,250kg ha-1) T0-M1: T0 + 5 t ha-1of Micaschist powder, T0-M2: T0 + 7 t ha-1of Micaschist powder, NP-M1:N and P supply, conventional dose (no KCl) + 5 t ha-1of Micaschist powder, N-M2: N supply, conventional dose (no P and K) + 7 t ha-1of Micaschist powder. The experiment was carried out between October 2015 and February 2019. During this period, soil samples were collected, sugarcane was planted and monitored with great care in order to determine the parameters indicative of the growth and yield of sugarcane plants. The results indicate an important increase of the sugarcane yield during the three years of experiment, on soils where micaschist powder was added, compared to the control. Concerning the percentage of lift and voids, the T0-M1 treatment had 3% of voids compared to the T0 (9%) treatment which is the reference fertilizer; for Tillers parameter, T0-M1 (338 stems) performs very well during the experiment compared to the T0 (297stems) and for the growth parameter, T0-M1 treatment was good increasing from 182 cm in the first year to 280 cm in the second year. This suggests that micaschist powder has a positive and significant effect on the growth components. For the yield of sugarcane, the best result of tons of sugarcane (TC) was obtained with T0-M1 treatment which increased from 77.15 TC ha-1 in the first year to 86.13TC ha-1 in the third year. The overall results indicate that using micaschist powder as fertilizer can enhance sugar cane yield with a long lasting residual effect of rock powder.