Effect of Harvest Time on Quality of Sugar Cane Cultivars

Abstract:

Three commercial sugarcane varieties such as NCO-334, B52-298 and N14 were grown at Finchaa Cane Plantation, Ethiopia to determine the optimum harvest age for cane and sugar yields. Treatments consisted of factorial combination of varieties and five levels of harvest age were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The varieties differed in stalk diameter and weight, and millable stalk number. Improvements in internodes number, stalk diameter and weight were increased with harvest age whereas internodes length and millable stalk number decreased with delay in harvesting. Varieties produced better juice quality in canes harvested at 17 months. NCO-334 attained its peak superior quality at the age of 15 months. This preliminary data on some indicator quality parameters imply that NCO-334 could be harvested at 15 months age in order to maximize sugar yield. However, more experiments are required to confirm the effect of harvesting time and variety on cane and sugar yield. Therefore, more research on detecting other quality parameters focusing on cane and sugar yield is recommended.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 824)
• Pages: 293-300
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.824.293
• Online since: September 2013
• Authors: T. Yirsaw, K. Woldetsadik, T.S. Workneh
• Keywords: Cane Yield, Quality, Sugar Yield, Sugarcane, Variety

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