Effect of foliar biofertilizer on the growth and development of sugarcane under rainfed conditions in Côte d’Ivoire

Sugarcane stalk growth depends on soil fertility and applied fertilization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different doses of a foliar biofertilizer on sugarcane growth parameters. The experimental design was a three repeat Fisher block of five treatments. The treatments were as follow: Negative control, Positive control with 5 g NPK; Dose of 2.5 ml/L; Dose of 5 ml/L and Dose of 10 ml/L Nano-DAP. Emergence, tillering and elongation were evaluated. The ANOVA (analysis of Variance) analyses were tested at 0.05. D3 (10 ml/L) showed the best results, with an average number of 25.33 plants at emergence, followed by D1 (2.5 ml/L) and D2 (5 ml/L), which produced 23.11 and 18.33 plants, respectively, after 42 days, compared with an average of 17 plants for the control. Regarding tillering, no significant difference was observed between the treatments applied. However, D3 and TP recorded the highest average tillering rates of 102.67 and 119.33, respectively, over the course of the trial. As for elongation, dose D3 achieved the highest average elongation at 101.70 cm over the evaluation period. These results suggest that a good sugarcane yield can be achieved for the M2593/92 variety, if rainfall is sufficient.