Spittlebug impacts on sugarcane quality and ethanol production

Gisele Cristina Ravaneli,Márcia Justino Rossini Mutton,José Paulo Stupiello,Leonardo Lucas Madaleno,Miguel Ângelo Mutton,Débora Branquinho Garcia

doi:10.1590/s0100-204x2011000200002

Gisele Cristina Ravaneli, Márcia Justino Rossini Mutton + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-204x2011000200002

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Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the impacts of spittlebug (Mahanarva fimbriolata) attack on sugarcane quality and ethanol production. Technological and microbiological parameters of juice and fermentation process were evaluated in ten fermentation cycles and two harvest seasons. Treatments consisted of different spittlebug stalk damage levels: control, with 100% of apparently healthy stalks; medium, with 15% of damaged or dry stalks (DDS); high, with 30% of DDS; and very high, with 60% of DDS. Spittlebug attack caused significant losses in cane quality, reducing total soluble solids, sucrose content, total reducing sugars, and pH, and increasing total phenolic compounds, and total and volatile juice acidity. The fermentation process was also significantly affected, resulting in lower ethanol content in wine. There was an increase in acetaldehyde concentration in the distillate. The spittlebug attack caused negative impacts on sugarcane quality and fermentation process, and these impacts are stronger in late season harvests.

Highlights

Sugarcane is one of most important crops in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, and is the raw material of several industrial products, such as ethanol, an important renewable fuel source that is less of a pollutant than petroleum derivates, with a relative lower cost.In Brazil, green harvested sugarcane has significantly increased pest populations formerly considered secondary, as they were efficiently controlled by trash burning
The spittlebug Mahanarva fimbriolata (Stal, 1854) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), for instance, has become a key pest to Brazilian sugarcane fields because of the favorable soil temperature and moisture conditions provided by the trash left on the field postharvest
Reductions in stalk yield may be significant for most sugarcane genotypes, mainly in the middle and late-season harvests (Dinardo-Miranda et al, 1999), after a dry season

Summary

Introduction

Sugarcane is one of most important crops in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, and is the raw material of several industrial products, such as ethanol, an important renewable fuel source that is less of a pollutant than petroleum derivates, with a relative lower cost.In Brazil, green harvested sugarcane has significantly increased pest populations formerly considered secondary, as they were efficiently controlled by trash burning. The spittlebug Mahanarva fimbriolata (Stal, 1854) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), for instance, has become a key pest to Brazilian sugarcane fields because of the favorable soil temperature and moisture conditions provided by the trash left on the field postharvest. Previous studies have shown that M. fimbriolata nymphs cause massive damage in sugarcane (Dinardo-Miranda et al, 2003; Garcia et al, 2006). Reductions in stalk yield may be significant for most sugarcane genotypes, mainly in the middle and late-season harvests (Dinardo-Miranda et al, 1999), after a dry season. The damage caused by this pest is mostly measured by stalk yield and sugar losses (Dinardo-Miranda et al, 2003; Gonçalves et al, 2003), which do not include processing issues related to juice darkening, yeast inhibition and alterations in the distillate composition

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