Analysis of the industrial quality of three sugarcane cultivars at “santa rosalía de la chontalpa” sugarcane mill

Resumen

Objective: To evaluate the industrial quality of three sugarcane cultivars in a template cycle at the supply area of “Santa Rosalía de la Chontalpa” sugarcane mill.

Design / Methodology / Approach: An experiment was established under a factorial design 3x3 (3 cultivars: CP 72-2086, MEX 79-431 and MEX 69-290; x 3 sampling dates: 330, 390 and 450 DDS, Spanish equivalent for days after sowing) on an Eutric Fluvisol soil. In each plantation, a sample of 10 stems with three replications was collected to determine the industrial quality by polarimetry.

Results: The industrial quality of the evaluated cultivars only differed statistically in terms of the percentage of purity, MEX 79-431 was the one that presented the lowest value for this variable. At 450 DDS, the highest value was observed for °Brix (17.28), POL percentage (14.92), purity (86.44%). The values obtained in the present study for the quality of juice in the evaluated cultivars are within the range of the standard values established for Mexico.

Limitations / Implications: Polarimetry is still the method used by most of the sugar mills in Mexico, even if other more environmental-friendly methodologies exist.

Findings / Conclusions: The trend line that best fit to MEX 69-290 and MEX 79-431, for °Brix, POL and purity, was a linear polynomial and to CP 72-2086, a polynomial quadratic. Fresh stems and reducing sugars showed best fit with an inverse polynomial. °Brix presented strong and positive correlation with POL (R = 0.99**); and strong and negative with reducer sugars (R = -0.95**) and fresh stem humidity (R = -0.91**).