Soil Temperature Patterns During the First Sugarcane Growth Stages Under a Different Crop Management in the Cauca River Valley, Colombia

Andrés Javier Peña Quiñones,Christian José Mendoza Castiblanco

doi:10.5539/jas.v12n10p225

Abstract

For several years, the Colombian sugarcane industry had sugar and ethanol as its primary products. However, during the last years, sugar mills opened a new market based on products before considered waste. This new market offers a new possibility for harvest-waste utilization. However, if the waste becomes an income source, crop management will change. Collecting sugarcane waste for its utilization in making some other products, would mean a new crop management scenario left the soil bare soil during the first stages of planting and ratoon canes. We simulated a bare soil condition using mesocosms, for the three most representative soil textures of the Cauca river valley, and we measured soil temperature at different depths during the most convenient planting season (March-April). Results demonstrated differences in soil temperature patterns, especially in sandy soils, which tend to have higher thermal amplitudes in all layers. The parameters of linear regressions that relate temperature of layers, including air temperature, give information related to the thermal properties of soils, and therefore, it is possible, under Cauca Valley conditions, in the future to infer soil temperature from air temperature.

Highlights

In the Cauca River Valley, a Colombian region with lands belonging to five departments, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Quindío, Risaralda, and Caldas, there are around 250,000 ha of sugarcane
The minimum variation of temperature was reached in the loam soil, with a standard deviation value of 4.6 °C compared to 5.1 °C and 5.6 °C for the sand and sandy clay loam soils, respectively (Figure 4)
The previous result means that the highest rate of decrease of temperature between the first and second layer was reached in the sandy clay loam soil

Summary

Introduction

In the Cauca River Valley, a Colombian region with lands belonging to five departments, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Quindío, Risaralda, and Caldas, there are around 250,000 ha of sugarcane. In this region, 13 sugar mills crush about 24 million tons of sugarcane sticks per year (Asocaña, 2020). Harvest residues are projected to be used as a raw material for producing ethanol, bricks, and briquettes (Tenelli et al, 2019; Santos et al, 2012; Tumuluru et al, 2014)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion