Management of replanting in sugarcane

Introduction

Productivity, in terms of tons of sucrose per hectare (TSH), is determined by three components: the number of millable stalks per linear meter, individual stalk weight, and sucrose content, expressed as a percentage (Quevedo Amaya et al., 2023). Each of these productivity components is defined by phenological stages, which are determined and influenced by different management practices and environmental conditions. The population, or number of millable stalks, begins to form at planting or cutting and stabilizes around six months of age (Bonnett, 2013; Santos & Diola, 2015). Depending on the variety, it is expected that to achieve the best TSH or TCH (tons of sugarcane per hectare), the population at harvest should be between 10 and 16 stalks per linear meter.

Due to factors associated with the quality of planting or harvesting (Santos et al., 2013), water deficit or excess, herbicide toxicity, soil compaction, pests, diseases and weeds, the mortality of strains is generated which affects the first component of productivity and, therefore, the TCH and TSH (Campos et al., 2010; Matsuoka & Stolf, 2012; Molin & Veiga, 2016; Ramburan & Nxumalo, 2017).

This lack of plant population is usually corrected by replanting, which involves placing vegetative propagation material in an empty space within the furrow; however, this practice is carried out based on criteria defined by foreign agribusinesses and not on research (Molin & Veiga, 2016). In recent years, Cenicaña has been working to define the parameters and best practices to increase the effectiveness of replanting in sugarcane.

This chapter describes the evaluation of criteria for replanting, the impact of depopulation, materials and timing for replanting, distances and depopulated area, economic analyses, and finally, a guide for carrying out replanting. It is important to highlight that this chapter focuses primarily on replanting using stalk sections, as this is the most common practice among sugar mills and growers in the Colombian sugarcane industry.