Effect of Trash Addition to the Soil on Microbial Communities and Physico-Chemical Properties of Soils and Growth of Sugarcane Plants

Sugarcane trash addition to the soils was found to alter the structure of microbial communities in soil and increased the number of microbial colonies. The total number of bacterial, fungal and actinomycetes colonies was found to be increased by 2.38, 1.80 and 2.74 folds, respectively, in trash added soil as compared to the conventional one. Further, the addition of trash in soils increased its organic matter and available nutrients, improve the moisture and enhanced the pH, which led to improve physico-chemical properties of soil. Moreover, the trash addition promoted the growth of sugarcane plants, leading to 8.41 and 1.53 t per hectare increase in cane and sucrose yield, respectively. Therefore, the addition of trash to the sugarcane fields improved physico-chemical properties of soil by increasing moisture, organic matter and nutrient content and promoting microbial growth and activities which led to a significant increase in sugarcane production and economic benefits.