Ratooning facts for kids

Ratooning is a farming trick where you harvest a crop by cutting most of the plant above the ground, but you leave the roots and the very bottom part of the stem. This lets the plant grow back and produce a new crop without needing to be replanted. It's like giving the plant a haircut so it can regrow! This method is used a lot for crops like rice, sugarcane, banana, and pineapple. You can't do this forever, though. After a few harvests, the plants might get too crowded, get sick more easily, or the soil might not have enough nutrients, causing the new crops to not grow as well.

History of Ratooning

The idea of ratooning has been around for a very long time! The first time we see it mentioned for a crop was in ancient India, during the Vedic period. An old Indian book called the Atharva Veda talks about farmers cutting barley plants many times.

Later, in Mainland China, there are records from 1757 that show farmers in Fujian Province were using ratooning for sugarcane.

What Does "Ratoon" Mean?

The word "ratoon" probably comes from old Latin words. One is retonsus, which means "to cut down." Another is retono, meaning "to thunder back" or "resound," maybe because the crop comes back quickly. In Spanish, similar words like retoño mean "sprout."

Farmers have special names for the different harvests. The very first crop grown from seeds or new plants is called the "plant crop" or "main crop." Any crops harvested after that, which grew back from the old roots, are called "first ratoon," "second ratoon," and so on.

Ratooning Sugarcane

Ratooning is a very old and important way to grow sugarcane. When you harvest sugarcane, you leave a part of the cane called the "stubble" in the ground. New shoots grow from tiny buds on this stubble, creating a new crop. This new crop is called the 'ratoon' or 'stubble crop', different from the 'plant crop' that grows from seeds or new seedlings.

Using ratooning saves farmers money because they don't need to buy new seeds or prepare the land as much. It also helps the sugarcane ripen faster, sometimes by a whole month! This means sugar mills can start processing the cane earlier. Sugarcane is really good at ratooning. There's even a field in East China that has been ratooned since 1757!

The number of times sugarcane is ratooned changes around the world. In some places like Indonesia, they only do one plant crop. In India, they might do one plant crop and one ratoon crop. But in places like Mauritius or Cuba, they might do six or more ratoon crops! This is called "multiple ratooning."

Sometimes, the amount of cane harvested from ratoon crops can go down. This is called "ratoon decline." It can happen because of:

• Poor care of the ratoon crop.
• More diseases (like smut) and pests that can stay in the stubble.
• Gaps in the field where plants didn't grow back.
• Cold weather during harvest, which can stop new buds from sprouting.

Farmers in India have found that if they start the ratoon crop in spring (March), they get more cane than if they start it in winter or summer.

Managing Ratoon Crops

To get good yields from ratoon crops, especially sugarcane, farmers need to manage them well. For example, in a village in Karnataka, India, farmers have been getting great sugarcane yields from ratooning since 1968! Their secret was covering the soil with leftover plant material (called "trash mulching"), adding lime, and watering the fields after each harvest. Because ratooning is so important, scientists now look for sugarcane varieties that are good at ratooning when they develop new types of cane.

Some sugarcane types are known to be excellent at ratooning, meaning they grow back strongly and produce good yields for many seasons. These types are often chosen by farmers for commercial growing.

How Ratoon Crops Grow

The new shoots in a ratoon crop mostly grow from buds on the lower part of the stubble left in the ground. At first, these new shoots use the food stored in the stubble and water from the old roots. After about 6-8 weeks, the new shoots grow their own fresh roots.

Ratoon crops usually ripen earlier than plant crops. This is because their shoots develop faster, and they have different nutrient levels in their leaves.

Ratooning in Cold Weather

In some parts of India, if sugarcane is harvested when it's cold (from November to mid-January), the stubble buds don't sprout well. This leads to a poor ratoon crop. The buds stay asleep until warmer weather arrives in February.

Farmers can help with this by:

• Spraying growth chemicals on the plant before harvest.
• Protecting the stubble after harvest, for example, by covering it with plastic or straw, loosening the soil, and watering it often.
• Filling in any empty spots in the field where plants didn't grow.
• Planting other crops like cow peas or potato between the sugarcane rows.

Why Ratoon Management is Important

Ratoon crops are a big part of sugarcane farming, often making up more than half of the sugarcane fields. Good management is needed because ratoon crops have roots that are closer to the surface, their early growth depends on older, less efficient roots, and they can be more affected by pests and diseases. They also ripen earlier and can suffer from "ratoon decline" if not cared for.

Researchers have developed special tools and methods for managing ratoon crops. For example, a tractor-operated machine can do many tasks at once, like shaving the stubble, tilling the soil, adding fertilizer, and covering the plants. This helps improve the crop's growth and saves farmers money.

Ratooning helps crops mature earlier, which means sugar mills can start making sugar sooner. It also saves money on preparing the fields and buying new seeds. Sometimes, short-duration ratoon sugarcane crops are even used to provide good food for cattle.

Ratooning can also be useful for keeping new, improved plant types or genetically modified plants pure for a longer time. Sugarcane is great for making special products because it can store a lot of sugar and has good systems for changing chemicals. Its ability to regrow from ratoons helps keep these special traits stable in genetically modified plants.

Ratooning Other Crops

Besides sugarcane, ratooning is also used for many other crops. Some examples include banana, cotton, mint, pearl millet, pigeon peas, pineapple, ramie, rice, and sorghum. This method is often used for plants that are grown for their essential oils, fiber, or medicines.

Ratooning works best for crops that can give good harvests for about three years. For instance, the desert shrub guayule, which is a source of natural rubber, is first harvested after two years. Then, it's ratooned every spring, with the final harvest including both the top part and the roots.

Even though rice is usually grown as a plant that lives for only one year, in warm places, it can act like a plant that lives for many years. It can produce ratoon crops and sometimes even survive for up to 30 years!