Technical advances for programming and managing irrigation in sugarcane. Second edition

Technical Series Number 33, February 2004

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The Cauca River Valley is a region that can be considered semi-humid, with fine-textured soils, where sugar cane is planted and harvested throughout the year. Irrigation has become a standard practice and supplementary irrigation is applied in 95% of the cultivated area. In normal years, rainfall ranges between 800 and 2600 mm with two rainy periods that span the months of March and May and September to November.

The availability of water for irrigation has decreased significantly in recent years due to changes in the quantity and frequency of rainfall and to increased demands for water for municipal and industrial uses. In the region, it is common to find areas with superficial water tables and good quality water that can provide up to 40-50% of the sugarcane's water requirements. Therefore, when programming irrigation based on water balance, it is necessary to take into account the contribution of groundwater.

The objective of this publication is to promote the reduction of sugarcane irrigation costs by adopting water balance for irrigation programming, measuring irrigation water by means of the RBC gauge and applying irrigation using technologies such as alternate furrow and polytubular or rigid pipe with gates. All this complemented with the management and conservation of water sources, knowledge of soil-water-plant-atmosphere relationships and the application of regional climate zoning by water balance as a key tool for the sustainable development of site-specific agriculture.

Regarding water balance, there are several alternatives for its implementation, which differ in their degree of adaptation to the conditions of the different sugar mills and sugar cane growers. In our environment, the level of adoption of water balance as an irrigation programming tool is low; for this reason, CENICAÑA investigates and transfers alternatives for its commercial adoption.

Water balance is considered a useful technology for saving water. However, it is necessary to clarify that it is only a method that brings us closer to rational water management and, as such, in dry years it may indicate that we should water more and in wet years, that we should water less. Of course, when the custom is to apply an excessive number of irrigations, the use of water balance results in an immediate saving of water.

The information presented in this document is, for the most part, the result of cooperative research conducted by CENICAÑA, sugar mills and sugarcane growers in the Cauca River Valley, and does not necessarily represent the current state of water management in commercial sugarcane plantations in the region.