Evaluation of Biosakyne, A Formulation Based on Essential Oils from Zingiber officinale for Sustainable Control against Sugarcane Smut Disease Caused by Sporisorium scitamineum in Ratoon Crops

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of treatments of young sugarcane regrowth with a formulation based on the essential oil Zingiber officinale on the incidence of Sporisorium scitamineum, on agromorphological parameters and on the technological quality of sugar. The natural fungicide was obtained from a mixture of essential oil of Zingiber officinale obtained by steam entrainment of rhizomes. It was sprayed at a rate of 300l/ha by mixing with mineral oil and water. Applications were made to young sugarcane regrowth of the variety NCo376 under natural infestation conditions and other untreated ones served as control. Three applications were made: at 15 days after harvest (T1), at 30 days after harvest (T2) and both times at the same time (T3). Doses of 1500ppm and 2500ppm evaluated at 300l/ha. Agronomic parameters, technological qualities of the cane, and phytopathological descriptors of smut were monitored for 12 months to evaluate the health status of treated and untreated plants. The results showed that the incidence of smut was greatly reduced from 8.67% to 11.17% for treated plants and 20.51% for untreated plants at 1500 ppm and above. The treated plants obtained cane yields largely superior to the control (63,333 kg/ha) ranging from 80,638 kg/ha to 85,500 kg/ha. In addition, they obtained higher sugar yields (between 7.24 and 8.5 t/ha) compared to the untreated plants (5.65 t/ha). This natural fungicide based on the essential oil of Zingiber officinale is an alternative to the use of chemicals in the control of Sugarcane smut.