Harvest managements and cultural practices in sugarcane

Sérgio Gustavo Quassi De Castro,Henrique Coutinho Junqueira Franco,Miguel Ângelo Mutton

doi:10.1590/s0100-06832014000100030

Abstract

The presence of trash from the mechanical harvest of green cane on sugarcane plantations promotes changes in the agricultural management, for example, in the mechanical cultural practices of ratoon cane in-between the rows and nitrogen (N) fertilization. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of sugarcane in different harvest systems, associated to the mechanical cultural practices in interrows and N rates. The study was carried out on a sugarcane plantation in Sales Oliveira, São Paulo, Brazil, with the sugarcane variety SP81-3250, on soil classified as Acrudox, in a randomized block design with split-split plots and four replications. The main treatments consisted of harvest systems (harvesting green cane or burnt cane), the secondary treatment consisted of the mechanical cultural practices in the interrows and the tertiary treatments were N rates (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 160 kg ha-1), using ammonium nitrate (33 % N) as N source. The harvest systems did not differ in sugarcane yield (tons of cane per hectare - TCH), but in burnt cane, the pol percent and total sugar recovery (TSR) were higher. This could be explained by the higher quantity of plant impurities in the harvested raw material in the system without burning, which reduces the processing quality. Mechanical cultural practices in the interrows after harvest had no effect on cane yield and sugar quality, indicating that this operation can be omitted in areas with mechanical harvesting. The application of N fertilizer at rates of 88 and 144 kg ha-1 N, respectively, increased stalk height and TCH quadratically to the highest values for these variables. For the sugar yield per hectare (in pol %), N fertilization induced a linear increase.

Highlights

Sugarcane is the raw material for sugar and ethanol production, and a biomass source for generating electric energy (CGEE, 2009)
The experimental delimitation was performed in randomized blocks, with split-split plots subdivided in four replications: main treatments constitute the harvest systems; secondary treatments are the application or absence of mechanical cultural practices in the interrows of the crop after harvest; and tertiary treatments are the N rates (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 160 kg ha-1) manually applied near the ratoon plants
Sprouting can be affected in this way, because the varieties grown for commercial purposes in Brazil were genetically improved for the burnt cane harvest system, while at present, due to environmental issues, sugarcane is being harvested without previous burning, in a green cane harvest system (Tavares et al, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Sugarcane is the raw material for sugar and ethanol production, and a biomass source for generating electric energy (CGEE, 2009). The crop residues (trash) left behind after mechanical harvesting of green sugarcane are composed of leaves, sheaths, plant tips, and shredded stalk pieces (Vitti et al, 2008), which, in significant quantities from 10 to 30 Mg ha-1 (Trivelin et al, 1996), are relevant for nutrient cycles, improvement of soil fertility and microbial activity (Macedo et al, 2008). The effect of trash on sugarcane yield is complex. Several studies describe it as negative (Basanta et al, 2003), while others report a positive effect (Wood, 1991; Trivelin et al, 2002a). Relating the green cane harvesting system (without previous burning) with the soil properties and the yield potential of the sugarcane variety can help optimize the responses in sugarcane ratoon yield (Contin, 2007)

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Conclusion