Abstract

Hardpans problem obstructs growth and root penetration of sugarcane. sugarcane harvester was one of the factors that caused soil compaction and resulted occurrence of hardpans in sugarcane field. The present study was to evaluate sugarcane harvesting methods on some soil properties in farmer filed in Nong Muang district, Lopburi Province during 2018-2019. The experiment was arranged in Split plot in RCBD. Treatments were plant cane and ratoon cane field as main plot, the sub plot were harvesting methods that consisted of 1. labor combined with sugarcane loader 2. sugarcane harvester combined with truck and 3. sugarcane harvester combine with basket. The results showed that labor combined with sugarcane loader method had lower organic matter than other methods because farmer burned sugarcane before manual harvesting. In clay soil and no organic matter application of sugarcane field, should be avoid sugarcane harvester combined with truck method because resulted in increased bulk density of soil. The high organic matter of sugarcane field helped to reduce bulk density of soil. Therefore, low organic matter field and using sugarcane harvester combined with truck method, should be added organic matter. It was evidenced that soil penetration resistance varied with agricultural machines, especially harvester machine.