Comportamiento de tres cultivares de caña de azúcar (saccharum officinarum sp.) en la granja experimental Santa Inés.

Abstract

The research to develop the present thesis work was carried out in the experimental area of Santa Inés farm, belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Technical University of Machala, located at km 5.5 of the Machala-Pasaje road. Observations were made on sugarcane cultivars EC-02, CC85-92 and C132-81, which were evaluated to determine their behavior in the soil and climate conditions of the area where the research was conducted. At world level, sugar cane (Saccharum spp.) is a crop of great importance and high productivity, as it is the raw material for the production of sugar, ethanol and panela. Among the main sugarcane producing countries are Brazil, India, China, Thailand and Pakistan, which occupy 74.42% of the sugarcane cultivated area. In the Ecuadorian territory the provinces of Guayas, Cañar, Loja, Imbabura, Los Ríos and Pastaza, concentrate 92% of the production of cane, 62% of this production is destined to the manufacture of sugar and ethanol, and 38% to the obtaining of panela and eau-de-vie in a traditional way. The variables evaluated were: length (m) and width of the leaf (cm) + 1 or the first visible dewlap; diameter in the middle part of the stem (cm); height of the stem (m) from the soil surface to the first visible dewlap; length of the internode (cm) in the middle part of the stem; weight of the stems (kg); population density and cane production in t/ha. These parameters were correlated with the climatic variables, from a series of 24 years of observations, from the agro-meteorological station of Santa Inés farm. The most outstanding results confirmed that relative humidity, temperature and precipitation have a high incidence on the growth and development of sugarcane and that the conditions existing in the study area are favorable for the establishment of sugarcane cultivation at the commercial level. According to the behavior of the climatic variables, the optimal period for harvesting is from July to November, with 150 days, which can be extended until mid-December without affecting maturity. The relationship between climatic factors and the agroproductive parameters of the sugarcane crop can be used as indexes in the decision making process to improve productivity. Obtaining and evaluating new sugarcane cultivars is a fundamental practice to improve sugarcane production in Ecuador as EC-02 will give it a sustainable production in this agroindustry. The evaluated cultivars present a very stimulating sugarcane production with values of 185.10 t/ha in EC-02 which presented the highest production, followed by C132-81 with 171.29 t/ha and in third place CC85-92 with 176.45 t/ha; although these values were obtained in experimental conditions, there is no doubt that sugarcane production in this area of the country, can be very promising, because productivity is much higher than those obtained in the sugar mills of Ecuador, under high technology commercial production conditions.