• A welldrained loamy soil with neutral reaction (pH 6.5-7.5) is ideal for sugarcane cultivation.
• However, it is grown in soils ranging from heavy clays to extremely sandy ones.
• It can tolerate considerable degree of soil acidity and alkalinity.Hence, it is found growing in soils of pH ranging from 5 to 8.5.

• Sugarcane remains in the field for about 2 to 3 years due to the practice of raising one or two ratoon crops.
• Therefore a thorough soil preparation once in 2 to 3 years is absolutely essential.
• About 45 cm depth of the soil should be well prepared since 75% of the sugarcane root system is present at this soil layer.
• An ideal soil condition is one in which there is 50% soil particles (45% mineral matter + 5% organic matter), 25% air and 25% water.
• The soil preparation should aim at achieving near ideal condition.

• Usually ridges and furrows are formed manually or by bullock / tractor drawn ridgers.
• All around the field and at regular intervals within the field drainage channels which are deeper than the irrigation channels should be formed depending upon the drainage requirement.
• A well prepared field with addition of organic matter and proper drainage facility would support a healthy sugarcane crop.

A good soil or land preparation approach should involve the following essential steps:

• Management of preceding crop residues.
• Tillage (ploughing, harrowing, sub soiling etc.)
• Levelling.
• Incorporation of organic manures.
• Field layout.

• Tractors are being extensively used to carry out tillage operations in sugarcane. Tillage operations through tractor drawn implements are most ideal and quick.
• For initial ploughing, mould board ploughs or disc ploughs are used. After initial one or two ploughings, the soil must be allowed to weather for a week or two before going for further tillage operations.
• The secondary tillage operations are carried out using either disc harrows, tyne harrows or rotavator. The rotavator is a very useful multi purpose implement which cuts the crop residues, shreds them and incorporates into the soil in one pass.
• The number of tillage operations vary with individual field. The operations are repeated to bring the soil to a good seedbed free of clods, weeds and crop residues.

• A fairly level field is important to ensure a uniform crop stand. Field levelling maintaining a gentle slope to facilitate easy movement of irrigation water is important. Levelling can be carried out using a tractor operated leveller.

• Land preparation for sugarcane starts with clearing the preceding crop residues. In many areas, sugarcane is planted after paddy. Paddy leaves behind a huge amount of stubbles and roots (2-3t/ha) which need to be incorporated or removed.
• Cultivation of paddy also leads to the destruction of soil structure due to puddling. Soon after paddy harvest, ploughing is difficult because of excessive soil moisture. The first step in such a situation is to clear the field of excess water. As soon as the field reaches optimum soil moisture level, it must be ploughed using a disc plough or a rotavator. The field is left for 8 –10 days for weathering.
• Then cross ploughing is done which may be followed by harrowing. These operations may be repeated so that a good seedbed is obtained for planting sugarcane.
• Before last ploughing, recommended quantity of farmyard manure or well cured pressmud or compost is applied.
• In several areas, sugarcane is also mono cropped. In such cases, after the harvest of the ratoons, trash is collected and used for composting. The field is ploughed using a disc plough. The stubbles may be collected and removed from the field.

• Organic manure addition at the time of soil preparation is very important to improve and maintain soil fertility and productivity. Organic matter helps in improving soil structure, water holding capacity and microbial activity. It also helps in the release of some of the plant nutrients such as phosphorus and micronutrients.
• The availability of farmyard manure (FYM) – the traditional manure used, is dwindling fast due to reduction in the cattle population.
• To supplement FYM, the sugar factory by-product pressmud and sugarcane trash can be used in the sugarcane fields, either directly or after composting.
• Pressmud contains considerable amount of nutrients and organic matter. Pressmud should not be applied fresh because, the decomposition of pressmud generates a lot of heat which may harm soil microflora.
• It should be cured for about a month or two. For curing, the pressmud is simply allowed to undergo microbial degradation on its own. About 10-25 tonnes of pressmud per hectare may be applied.
• Very heavy application of pressmud is not desirable as it contains considerable amount of wax which affects the soil physical properties, particularly, soil permeability and infiltration.

• Sugarcane trash is a very useful source of organic matter. It could be composted and used.
• Many of the sugar mills are also having distillery plants nearby. The distillery effluent and pressmud together when mixed in appropriate proportion and treated with microbial culture produce very useful organic manure called 'bio-earth'. This is another source of organic matter.

• Growing a green manure crop such as daincha (Sesbania aculeata) or sunhemp (Crotolaria juncea) preceding to sugarcane and in situ incorporation is a very useful practice to improve soil fertility and productivity. This is particularly important in places where inadequate or no organic manure is applied.
• A leguminous green manure adds about 7.5 to 25 tonnes of green matter per ha contributing about 10 to 30 kg N per ha. Daincha has around 0.62% N and sunnhemp contains 0.75% N, 0.12% P₂O₅ and 0.51% K₂O.
• For growing a green manure crop, about 50 kg seeds may be broadcast in the prepared field. The flowering stage is the right stage for incorporation as at that stage the crop is tender and contains maximum amount of nutrients.
• After the green manure has been incorporated, there should be sufficient time lag before planting sugarcane to facilitate proper decomposition.