Biometrics of the sugarcane shoot during irrigated ratoon cycle in the Submedio of the Vale do São Francisco

Abstract

The productivity of sugarcane in the Submedio of the Vale do São Francisco has been presenting superior performance due to the use of irrigation. In this way, information regarding the crop growth can be used for improving crop management. Thus, the objective of this work was to carry out a biometrics analysis of the irrigated sugarcane, seeking to supply the absence of information of this crop in the region. The experiment was conducted in the district of Juazeiro-BA using the variety RB92579 during the ratoon cycle. Two types of biometrics analysis were performed, one of them was destructive, where plants were sampled and conducted at the laboratory, and another one was no destructive, in which the variables are monitored in field. Based on the results, it was possible to verify that the crop presented high tillering (15.2 shoot m-2). The sugarcane lodging affects the dynamics of the stalks height, which reached final value of 421 ± 22 cm. However it did not demonstrate direct impacts on the length (13.6 ± 2.4 cm), diameter (2.5 ± 0.2 cm) and volume of the internodes (68.8 ± 19.5 cm3), as well as in the yield. The leaf appearance rates were 0.0079 leaves oCd-1, in the Interval I, and 0.0018 leaves oCd-1, in the Interval II. The maximum leaf area (423 ± 39 cm2) depends of the position in the stalk (no15) and it responds mainly to the leaf length (maximum value 146 ± 6 cm), because the width (~4.2 ± 0.2 cm) tended to stabilize along the cycle. The leaf area index presented a positive correlation with the number of expanded green leaves and with the leaf area.