Sugar Tech最新文献

Sugarcane is a potential crop to replace the predominant rice–wheat cropping system of north India which is causing a gradual depletion of the groundwater table. However, sugarcane has a high water demand during the summer months. In comparison of conventional check basin method of irrigation, the micro-irrigation is a viable option to save water. Moreover, intercropping of summer moong in sugarcane increases the income and profitability of the farmers. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of intercropping of summer moong (Vigna radiata), mulching and subsurface drip irrigation on water productivity and profitability at Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Faridkot during 2019–2020 (plant) and 2020–2021 (ratoon). Subsurface drip irrigation at 100% CPE (Cumulative Pan Evaporation) gave higher summer moong seed yield (0.52 and 0.51 t ha⁻¹), cane yield (83.4 and 85.7 t ha⁻¹), and cane equivalent yield (95.3 and 97.1 t ha⁻¹), respectively, during 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 which was at par with 80% CPE and significantly better than 60% CPE. Intercropping 3 rows of summer moong produced higher summer moong seed yield, cane yield and cane equivalent yield than 2 rows. Mulching @ 6 t ha⁻¹ produced significantly higher cane yield and cane equivalent yield over no mulching. Subsurface drip irrigation at 100% and 80% CPE saved water by 25% and 37.5%, respectively, than check basin method of irrigation. Therefore, subsurface drip irrigation either at 80 or 100% CPE having 3 rows of summer moong with mulching is recommended as the best management practice for sustainable yield and water saving.

Sugarcane holds a critical position in global agriculture, serving as a basis for the sugar and bioenergy sectors. The integration of remote sensing technologies and sophisticated machine learning approaches and related models has revolutionized sugarcane research. These tools offer efficient, noninvasive, and large-scale assessment methods. This review highlights the utilization of satellite imagery and sensor data, encompassing RGB, multispectral, hyperspectral, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in sugarcane agriculture. It addresses crop identification, pest and disease management, yield and acreage estimation, modeling, phenotypic measurement, and their impact on empowering farmers with insights for optimal irrigation, fertilizer application, and overall crop management. These advancements significantly increase productivity and foster environmental sustainability. The review had dual aims: (1) consolidate RS data applications in India’s sugarcane research and development, and (2) examine the pros and cons of RS and AI methods in sugarcane farming. The review employed prominent bibliographic databases—google scholar, scopus, researchgate, and web of science—along with pertinent research articles on RS and AI applications in sugarcane, and comprehensive data on sensors and UAVs retrieved from these databases. The study concludes that AI-driven crop RS stands as an effective method for monitoring and managing sugarcane, contributing significantly to improving yield and quality, while simultaneously offering substantial benefits in social, economic, and environmental realms. However, challenges in the sugar industry, such as adapting technology, high initial costs, climate impact, communication, policy, and regulation, must be addressed.

Micro-mechanization is a promising method for limiting herbicides in sugarcane. Three experimental trials were carried out to assess the effectiveness and impact on yield of 4 inter-row weeding tools between 2017 and 2021 in La Reunion (a rotary slasher, a mower shredder, a power harrow, and a duck-foot cultivator). Mechanical inter-row weeding allows us to reduce the treatment frequency index by 50%. To assess the effectiveness of the tools, we analyzed the difference in weed ground coverage (ΔCOV) before and after an intervention (weeding). Between 0 and 30 days, the efficiency of the tools was comparable to chemical treatment, with an average efficiency of 70%, except for the duck-foot cultivator in ratoon (ΔCOV = 20%). After 30 days, ΔCOV was negative for the tools studied (power harrow and mower shredder), reflecting weed contamination of the plot, in contrast to chemical weed control (ΔCOV = 81%). Yield analysis showed a significant drop of 10% for the rotary slasher and/or the mower shredder compared with the reference control. An overall downward trend was observed for the other modalities (5%), but further studies are needed to assess their impact.

A three-year field study was carried out in a managed agro-ecosystem comprising sugarcane germplasm in the Malabar region of Kerala (Kannur), India to characterize the field dynamics of entomopathogens infecting nymphs and adults of sugarcane planthopper, Pyrilla perpusilla. The peak pyrilla population was noticed during June-July and the minimum during November–December. Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) belonging to two genera viz., Metarhizium and Hirsutella were found to cause mycosis in nymphs and adults of P. Perpusilla with nymphal mortality by Metarhizium being higher than that caused by Hirsutella across the sampling period. The peak period of adult mortality by Metarhizium was recorded during the June–August monsoon period whereas adult mortality by Hirsutella was noticed during August–December post-monsoon period. The mummified cadavers bearing synnemata killed by Hirsutella, which served as a point of source for new infections had remained on leaves for a longer duration than that of Metarhizium. The spatial distribution analyses indicated that the dispersion of live adults was weakly aggregated to random and the dispersion of mummified adults was regular. In contrast, live and mummified nymphs were highly aggregated. Correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant and positive correlation between the live pyrilla population and monthly weather factors viz., relative humidity (RH), rainfall, and rainy days. The prevalence of monsoon and humid conditions with the daily average RH consistently clocking higher than 70% during the assessment period positively supported the occurrence of pathogenicity from entomopathogenic fungi. The study outcome emphasizes the conservative agricultural practices and strategies for the augmentative use of EPF for the sustainable management of P. perpusilla in sugarcane.

Different studies have demonstrated the effect of organic acids and minerals on the decrease of ethanol production by yeast fermentation. Other impacts have been observed at the operational level, such as increased consumption of inputs, higher occurrence of fouling in equipment, more frequent episodes of microbial contamination or difficulties in handling by-products, among others. Since 2018 these adverse effects have been increasingly observed in Colombia’s sugarcane agro-industrial sector. The sludge present in the raw material (cane molasses) is one of the sources of microbial contamination by lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and wild yeasts. The Providencia Sugar Mill located in rural El Cerrito, Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, accordingly implemented in 2011 a sludge removal technology by sedimentation, improving the operating conditions of equipment such as plate heat exchangers, pipes and mash column. However, the increase in concentrations of organic and inorganic impurities in the cane molasses prompted the study of strategies to mitigate these sources of impact on the fermentation process. Laboratory tests indicated that temperature was the variable that had the greatest impact on the removal of insolubles. Under the most optimal conditions possible, the decrease in insolubles was 74%, with decreases of 15% in ashes, 27.4% in calcium, 15.4% in magnesium and 4.8% in potassium as well. Laboratory results were then validated on an industrial scale, indicating that a 86% decrease in turbidity was obtained with operating temperatures ≥ 75 °C.

Sorghum seed germination is delayed/inhibited by salt stress, and moringa leaf extract (MLE), a natural growth enhancer, acts as a low-cost seed priming agent which promotes the germination under stress condition. Therefore, during the current investigation two sweet sorghum genotypes (salt tolerant and salt susceptible) were exposed to 100 mM salt stress (NaCl) and data pertaining to seedling growth, enzymatic activities, ionic balance and gene expression were recorded at 10 days after germination (DAG) in shoot and root tissues. The seeds were primed with MLE extract (10% v/v) to mitigate the effects of salt stress. Results showed that salt stress inhibited the seedling growth of sweet sorghum. MLE priming positively enhanced the seedling growth by inducing production of total phenols, total sugars and improving the chlorophyll content with improved nitrogen metabolism under salt treatment. Under salt stress, MLE priming resulted in a significantly enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, APX, CAT and PPO) and related gene expression, whereas it reduced the Na⁺ /K⁺ ratio, due to induced expression of the HKT-6 and HAK genes in roots. Overall, salt-tolerant sorghum genotype performed better than susceptible genotype under salt stress. The present investigation suggested that MLE priming provided an early seedling protection by improving germination, enzymatic activities and expression of nitrogen metabolizing and antioxidant genes under salt stress.

Replacing a pan involves the expenditure of significant capital for a sugar mill. Replacing a pan too late may result in excessive downtime, maintenance costs, and risk of catastrophic failure. On the other hand, replacing a pan too early will lead to wasting residual life and an unnecessary allocation of capital funds that may have been spent better elsewhere in the mill. This paper reports on the development of a replacement policy for batch vacuum pan components based on a stochastic model of degradation. Degradation data, principally wall-thickness measurements, were collected from the vacuum pans of an Australian sugar factory and used to develop component degradation models. Unlike the conventional approach of using a line of best fit to identify the end of life of the pan, the methods adopted account for the uncertainties due to seasonal operating conditions and inherent uncertainty in the degradation model parameters. The quantification of the uncertainty in identifying the end of life of a vacuum pan has shown that there is significant risk of a pan failing earlier than the straight-line prediction. Employing this quantification of the risk, a component replacement plan was developed by optimising the replacement of each component individually and subsequently optimising the replacement plan for the entire pan. This strategy is demonstrated using a case study with and without parametric uncertainty to evaluate its impact on maintenance optimisation. Including parametric uncertainty leads to the determination of greater risk earlier, proposing the replacement of components earlier than when parameters are considered as ‘known’. It is, therefore, important to consider parametric uncertainty in the planning of pan component replacements to better manage risk.

The term ‘regenerative agriculture’ describes a rehabilitation and conservation approach to farming, which aims to enhance the sustainability of production. The approach consists of an array of practices that focus on the maintenance and rehabilitation of soil health. In the South African sugar industry, major soil related problems include: (a) soil erosion; (b) compaction; (c) acidification; and (d) soil salinity/sodicity. While regenerative practices to guide growers have been developed at the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI), the remediation of poor soil health in the industry has generally been hampered by low levels of adoption of these practices. The importance of the small-scale grower (SSG) sector to economic development has been recognised as a key element of the South African Sugarcane Value Chain Master Plan to 2030, which aims to ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry. To understand the barriers to adoption, SASRI conducted a survey of a small-scale grower community. This revealed that conventional knowledge exchange methods were ineffective with SSGs. Consequently, SASRI is developing and implementing knowledge exchange approaches which are founded on: (a) networks of demonstration plots where regenerative practices can be showcased and (b) participative research methodologies which aim to empower SSGs in discovering their own practical solutions to production challenges. Complementing these is an initiative to upskill extension specialists and agricultural advisors in soil health regenerative practices supported by regular radio broadcasts and newsletters. In the short term, the impact of these knowledge exchange tactics is being monitored through analysis of SSG production and economic data by SASRI, in collaboration with stakeholders from the local grower associations and mills. To date, data from the small-scale grower community study indicated that the implementation of the demonstration plot methodology focused on matching variety to soil type has had a positive impact on SSG livelihoods.

The present study assessed the clarification of sugarcane juice using different flocculants and their effect on ethanol yield. The extracted sugarcane samples (CTC072361—harvest 2022/2023) were adjusted to 16% Brix, and calcium hydroxide (56 g L⁻¹) was added with pH 7.0 ± 0.4 and boiled. The clarification test was done, using the anionic synthetic polymer, commercial organic flocculant and red seaweed extract (RSE—Kappaphycus alvarezii) for sedimentation of impurities. After a retention time of 20 min, the clarified broths were collected by siphoning and analyzed for Brix, total reducing sugars (TRS), pH, total acidity, and total phenolic compounds. The extracted sugarcane juice was analyzed for Brix, TRS, reducing sugars, Pol, pH, purity, acidity, ash, total phenolic compounds, turbidity, and starch content. The clarified juices were standardized to obtain the wort and analyzed for TRS and total acidity. The worts were processed for fermentation process, using CAT-1 yeast (30 g L⁻¹). After fermentation (Brix ≤ 1%), the wine samples were collected and analyzed for total residual reducing sugars, pH, total acids, alcohol content and glycerol, with subsequent calculation of fermentation efficiency. The use of red algae extracts (Kappaphycus alvarezii) was found efficient as a bioflocculant for removing impurities in sugarcane juice and promoted a similar clarification process with synthetic and organic flocculants. The use of red seaweed resulted in as fermentation efficiency 93.27% and represented up to 3.4% higher than the other treatments.

In South Africa, the stalk borer Eldana saccharina is an indigenous pest that significantly reduces sugarcane yield. Severe economic losses due to E. saccharina in the South African sugarcane industry are estimated at approximately US$60 million annually. Researchers at the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) have researched this topic for many years to develop tools to enable sugarcane growers to manage this pest sustainably according to integrated pest management principles, with the sterile insect technique (SIT) being one of these tools. For more than three decades, the SIT has been used in area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes to manage pests of agricultural crops. SIT-based research has been conducted to control dipteran pests; however, controlling lepidopterans has been difficult because of their resistance to irradiation used to sterilize moths. Nevertheless, recent research on the application of SIT has proven successful in controlling lepidopteran pests. This paper provides an overview of the SIT background and studies conducted in South Africa on the SIT programme to control this key pest in sugarcane.