Sugarcane
Sugar cane is a tall and relatively strong class of perennial grasses that are known to have a high sugar content. Strictly speaking, there is not a single plant that is known as sugar cane. Instead, there are as many as thirty-seven different grasses that are sometimes considered to be part of this particular cane family.Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar and measure 2 to 6 meters tall. All of the sugar cane species interbreed, and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids.
Climate
Tropical or temperate climate is suitable for growing sugarcane but it also can be grown in the sub-tropical region.
Site Selection
The site should be provided with plentiful supply of water, for a continuous period of more than six months each year, either from natural rainfall or irrigation. It can be grown on different soils ranging from sandy, loam to clay and can tolerate salinity to some extent. Well drained loamy soil is ideal for its cultivation. |
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Seed Selection
The seeds should be free from red rot, wilt, smut, ratoon stunting and grassy shoot disease. Use only top two-third portion of the selected canes for seed |
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Plantation
It should be done by flat method and row distance should be 75 cm. |
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Manuring
Nitrogen: 150 kg/ha |
Plant Protection
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Harvesting
It is done both by hand and mechanically. In hand harvesting, the field is first set on fire. The fire burns dry leaves, and chases or kills any lurking venomous snakes, without harming stalks and roots. Harvesters then cut the cane just above ground-level using cane knives or machetes. Mechanical harvesting uses a combine, or sugarcane harvester. This machine cuts the cane at the base of the stalk, strips the leaves, chops the cane into consistent lengths and deposits it into a transport. After that, the harvester blows the trash back onto the field. The mechanical harvesting doesn’t require the field to be set fire so remains left in the fields such as dead leaves acts as mulch for next round of planting. |
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Processing
Harvested cane must be rapidly processed as it begins to lose its sugar content if unnecessarily delayed. Firstly, mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane, and sometimes bleach it to make “mill white” sugar for local consumption. And then refineries produces refined white sugar, which is 99 percent sucrose. Sugar refining purifies the raw sugar. |
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