Sugarcane maturity estimation through edaphic-climatic parameters

• Autor(a) principal: Scarpari,Maximiliano Salles
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Outros Autores: Beauclair,Edgar Gomes Ferreira de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Scientia Agrícola (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-90162004000500004
• topic: sucrose; predicting; quality; mathematical model; climatology

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) grows under different weather conditions directly affecting crop maturation. Raw material quality predicting models are important tools in sugarcane crop management; the goal of these models is to provide productivity estimates during harvesting, increasing the efficiency of strategical and administrative decisions. The objective of this work was developing a model to predict Total Recoverable Sugars (TRS) during harvesting, using data related to production factors such as soil water storage and negative degree-days. The database of a sugar mill for the crop seasons 1999/2000, 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 was analyzed, and statistical models were tested to estimate raw material. The maturity model for a one-year old sugarcane proved to be significant, with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.7049*. No differences were detected between measured and estimated data in the simulation (P < 0.05).