Introduction
Sugar Crops Research Institute (SCRI) was established in Mardan in 1952 as a research station. In 1981, it was upgraded to the status of an institute. Later on, sugar beet was also added as a research commodity at the institute.
Mandate
Brief History
Sugarcane is an important cash crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and occupies an area of 104000 hectares. It feeds the 7 sugar mills of the province as well as for making brown sugar locally called as Gurh. Besides that, it also caters for industries like paper and chip board making and provides a gainful employment to the people of the area.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a short growing period, occurrence of frost in the winter and lack of tolerant varieties are shortcomings in the way of getting higher sugarcane yields. The SCRI scientists have developed Sugarcane varieties best suited to the agro climatic conditions of the central and lower zones of the Province to fill the targets gaps of production of national average.
Objectives
Functions
Sections of SCRI Mardan
Most recently the following labs were upgraded with the provision of high-tech equipment i.e.,
SUGARCANE
This section deals with the development of high yielding and better sugar recovery sugarcane varieties. This further includes the following sub sections:
1. Sugarcane Breeding
Sugarcane breeding mainly deals with work on varietal development. Fuzz and setts are procured from local and exotic sources and tested for their performance under the agro-climatic conditions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The selection process consists of 4 stages which include the fuzz, seedlings, replicated and final varietal trials. The varieties with higher cane tonnage and recovery are selected and released for general cultivation in the farming community.
So far, the institute has released the following varieties.
Three varieties selected at the institute are proposed for varietal approval and will be released for general cultivation.
S.No.
Variety
Year of Release
Cane Yield
(t/ha)
CCS%
Maturity
NCO 310
1960
50.00
11.00
Early
CP 48/103
CP 44/101
1975
55.00
10.00
Mid
CP 51/21
1981
60.00
CP 65/357
1984
12.04
L 62/96
65.00
11.50
Co 1321
1989
71.00
11.94
Mardan 92
1992
75.00
12.17
Bannu-1
70.00
12.00
Mardan-93
1993
72.00
12.43
CP 77/400
1996
74.00
12.18
JN 88/1
12.69
Abid 96
12.46
SN.98
1998
12.21
SPSG 394
2003
80.00
11.53
MCP 421
12.54
CP 72/2086/Mardan 2005
2005
82.00
12.50
Israr Shaheed SC
2017
85.00
12.70
Abdul Qayum 2017
83.00
12.80
Mardan 2021
2021
87.00
12.71
Gul Rahman 2021
2. Sugarcane Agronomy
No matter how high a variety gives the yield if they are not grown under optimum conditions of cultivation and maintenance, the yield of the crop will not improve. Agronomy section focuses crop production technology which can give higher cane yield and recovery for a sugarcane variety. Land preparation, plant population, row spacing, fertilizer application and seed rates are common research components of the section for a particular variety. Apart from that, experiments on intercropping different crops with sugarcane come under the jurisdiction of the agronomy section of Sugar Crops Research Institute Mardan. Recently, a project was conducted on chipped bud technology of sugarcane cultivation. The cost of seed is reduced to almost 1/10th per acre for the current sugarcane varieties through using the chipped bud technology. A Senior Research Officer alongwith other staff is continuously working on various aspects of chip bud technology to make it more efficient to be adopted by the farming community of SCRI Mardan.
3. Sugarcane Nutrition
A large part of cultivated soils in Pakistan are low in certain important plant nutrients. This deficiency, mainly of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, zinc, copper, iron and manganese has been shown by various fertility experiments in different parts of the country. These deficiencies are severe in irrigated sandy soils, moderate in irrigated loamy soils of old river terraces, and of a minor degree in other soils. The main causes include leaching of nutrients by irrigation water, prolonged use of exhaustive crops, high decomposition rates of organic matter in hot and arid climates, inadequate addition of organic fertilizers or green manures and continued use single-nutrient fertilizers (like urea) [IUCN, 1993].
Pakistan has been divided into 12 agro-ecological zones based on physiology, climate, soil land use and other factors. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, speaking in context sugarcane there is Northern Irrigated Plains (b) (Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi) with clayey, moderately calcareous soils, Western Dry Mountains (Kohat, Karak, Tank, and parts of Baluchistan) which have calcareous loamy soils, and Sulaiman Piedmont (DI Khan, DG Khan and Rajanpur) with laomy, clayey, strongly calcareous soils (Khan et al, 2012).
Keeping in view the soil status and that sugarcane is a heavily soil nutrient exhaustive crop because of high dry matter production per unit area, it is imparitve to take good care of nutrition in sugarcane crop. A good crop tonnage of 125 t/ha of sugarcane removes 84-100 Kg of nitrogen, 56-67 Kg of Phosphorus, and 168 Kg of Potash from the soil (Sarwar et al. 2009).
In the same way, most of the sugarcane growers only nitrogenous fertilizers while the rest use an unbalanced combination of N and P. Potash is negleted in sugarcane crop. Therefore, a balanced use of fertilizer in the life cycle of the crop is very important to get optimum cane yields. For khyber Pakhtunkhwa Nitrogen @ 173 to 222 Kg/ha, P2O5 @ 114 Kg/ha, and Potash in the range of 124 to 148 Kg/ha is recommended. In the same way, although the use of farmyard manure in KPK is better than that of Punjab and Sind, farmyard manure @ 20-25 tons per hectare one month prior to planting is also good for resoring soil fertility and structure (Pakistan Agriculture Research, 2015). As for the time of application of fertilizers, all the phosphatic and potash fertilizer may be applied in the sowing time in the furrows. The nitrogen fertilizer should be given in 3 equal splits (April, May, June) to spring planted (Februay-March) crop. For the september planted crop nitrogen could be split in 4 applications i.e. March, April, May and June.
4. Crop Protection/Biological Control Laboratory
Sugarcane entomology section deals with research activities related to control of insect pests. Sugarcane borers, pyrilla, bugs, thrips, mites, grass hoppers, and army worm are dangerous pests during the growing season. In past, chemical control of the pest was in regular practice and it was recommended for tackling these pests. However, with the knowledge of harmful effects of pesticides on humans and animals, Integrated Pest Management technique and biological control has been developed in which the hazards of chemicals is either avoided or reduced to a minimum. There’s an Entomology laboratory at the institute, which prepares Trichogramma and Chrysoperla cards bearing the eggs of these insects. These cards are then provided to farmers to use them in their sugarcane fields. After hatching of the eggs of these useful insects larvae and adults feed on eggs of harmful borers. Major insect pests of sugarcane include Gordaspur, top, stem, root borers, pyrella, and termites.
The sugar crops analytical laboratory is the only place in Government of Khyber Paktunkhwa that meets the needs of sugar cane and sugar beet growers in terms of sugar content analysis. A variety can be released only if there is sufficient amount of sucrose. This laboratory provides information about the total soluble solids i.e. Degree brix, Pol reading, fibre content and recovery/CCS of a particular variety.
Sugarcane samples are crushed using power crusher. The juice is collected in jugs. The juice is further added to a 500ml graduated cylinder and brix hydrometer is inserted. The juice is allowed to stand and then the degree brix and temperature readings are recorded.
150 ml juice is taken in a conical flask and 1 to 2 grams of lead acetate per litre is added to settle down the impurities. The juice is filtered for pol reading. The pol tube is rinsed with the filterate and afterwards the tube is filled with aliqot for pol reading.
The pol reading and Degree brix readings are further worked into corrected brix and pol percent values using Shmitz tables for recovery calculation.
However the scientists of SCRI have developed excel procedure for the same in order to save time and get accurate results.
Sugarcane samples are crushed using fibre machine and 10 grams of fibre is weighed in a petri dish. The wet samples are oven dried till constant weight. The fibre content is calculated using moisture content, brix readings using formulae; excel procedure at SCRI Mardan.
SUGARCANE BREEDING STATION JABBAN, DARGAI
Growth duration of sugarcane crop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) is shorter (March to October) as compared to the full crop duration of 12 to 18 months. In this scenario, sugarcane varieties are needed which are vigorous to compensate for the short duration and yet have optimum cane yield per unit area of the land. Previously, there was no breeding program in the province. In 1992-93, the government of KPK sanctioned a project titled "Establishement of Sugarcane Breeding Station, Jabban, Dargai". Under the project 3 acres of land was purchased where 3 photoperiod chambers and an office cum store were built.
Jabban, Dargai, is an area surronded by mountains on the three sides and provide suitable conditions for sugarcane flowering. Shortly after the establishment of the aforementioned project efforts to induce flowering in sugarcane varieties started. Meanwhile, 2 promising varieties which were produced from the seedlings produced previously showed promising resutls and were approved under the names of "JN 88-1" and "Abid 96". They were released for commercial cultivation in 1996.
Future plan
Agronomic recommendations standardized for the area
Sugar beet
Sugar beet section is mainly involved in introducing new varieties of sugar beet in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Different varieties are tested for their beet yield and recovery and then released to the farmers for general cultivation. So far, the varieties developed by sugar beet section include KWS AA, KWS ZZ, Kawe Poly, Maribo Marcopoly, Kawe Terma, and Kawe Mira. One other one, KWS 1451 is proposed for approval.
Soil Research Laboratory
Soil Research Laboratory has been established in 2022 which has the following facilities for the research scientists of SCRI Mardan:
This is used to analyze soil samples for the micronutrients i.e. Copper, Iron, Zinc, Manganese, etc.
This is used for the determination of Potassium, sodium, calcium etc.
This is used for the estimation of pH in soil samples.
This is used for the estimation of Electrical conductivity i.e. soluble salts in soil samples. The laboratory is working to help scientists work on the micronutrients related studies.
Post Harvest Laboratory
This laboratory has also been established in 2022 and working on products of sugarcane and sugarbeet. This laboratory has worked started work on gurh in order to improve its purity and shelf life.
Soil Analytical Laboratory at Model Farm Services Center
This laboratory is providing advisory services to the farming community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The samples are received from farmers and results are given to farmers including recommendation for fertilizers’ use. The samples are usually analyzed for soil pH, soil EC, Phosphorous content, Potassium,
lime content, Organic matter content and Total Nitrogen content.
Present Staff:- Director (head of the Institute-BPS-19)
S. No
BPS-
No of Seats
1
19
1+2 ( Director+ PROs)
2
18
8 SRO
3
17
7 ROs
4
9 to 15
24 Field staff (Field Inspectors, Field Assist etc)
5
Upto 16
19 Establishment (Sr. Clerk, Jr Clerk etc)
Public Access to Government
Official/Officers (Designation Only)
Address/Telephone No/Fax/Email
Director, Sugar Crops Research Institute, Mardan
0937-929013
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