Water use in a sugarcane plantation

Abstract

The evapotranspiration (E) from a sugarcane plantation in the southeast Brazil was measured by the eddy-covariance method during two consecutive cycles. These represented the second (393 days) and third year (374 days) re-growth (ratoon). The total E in the first cycle was 829 mm, accounting for 69% of rainfall, whereas in the second cycle, it was 690 mm, despite the total rainfall (1353 mm) being 13% greater. The ratio of E to available energy, the evaporative fraction, exhibited a smaller variation between the first and second cycles: 0.58 and 0.51, respectively. The estimated interception losses were 88 and 90 mm, respectively, accounting for approximately 7% of the total rainfall. The sugarcane yield in the second cycle (61.5 ± 4.0 t ha À1 ) was 26% lower than the first cycle, as well as lower than the regional average for the third ratoon (76 t ha À1). The below average yield was associated with less available soil water at the beginning of the cycle, with the amount of rainfall recorded during the first 120 days of re-growth in the second cycle being 16% of that recorded in the first (203 mm).

Long-rotation sugarcane in Hawaii sustains high carbon accumulation and radiation use efficiency in 2nd year of growth

“…As with other crops, using sugarcane in advanced conversion techniques incentivizes different agronomic qualities (e.g., plant biomass accumulation and enhanced resource use efficiency) versus traditional traits (e.g., maximum sugar yield) (Muchow et al, 1996;Van der Weijde et al, 2013). Growth and efficiency properties that are advantageous for advanced biofuels, such as net biomass accumulation and radiation use efficiency (RUE), have been investigated for sugarcane using micrometeorological (Cabral et al, 2011(Cabral et al, , 2013, remote sensing (Portz et al, 2011), and field trial/biometric approaches (Inman-Bamber et al, 2011).and forest and have been identified as potential source areas for biofuels (Keffer et al, 2006). Recent emergence of potentially large and stable consumers (e.g., the United States Navy) of advanced biofuels in Hawaii, (Closson, 2013;Steiner, 2012) has spurred renewed interest in growing sugarcane and other high biomass grasses.…”

Offsetting high water demands with high productivity: Sorghum as a biofuel crop in a high irradiance arid ecosystem

“…Lower productivity in ratoon crops has been previously shown to be caused by unavoidable damage during harvest (e.g. in sugarcane (Bull, 2000;Cabral et al, 2012) and in sorghum (Han et al, 2012;Rao et al, 2013). It has also been reported that certain sorghum genotypes exhibit lower biomass production in the second and third ratoon crop of the growing season compared to the crop grown from seed (Rooney et al, 2007;Rao et al, 2013), however, these genetic drivers are not well resolved.…”

Evaluation of soil carbon stocks in response to management changes in sugarcane production

“…Low rainfall and therefore reduced soil water content will limit evapotranspiration which result in lower yields (CABRAL et al, 2012). Waclawovsky et al (2010) found that irrigation resulted in higher yield of sugarcane, in an area with lower precipitation, lower cloudiness and higher solar radiation than most sugarcane areas of Brazil.…”