IMPROVING SUGAR RECOVERY

Sugar Recovery Sugar Recovery rate is the percentage of sugar production in metric

ton to the Sugarcane crushed in metric ton. II Quality Cane A quality cane should have the following characteristics. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. III Should have accumulated peak sucrose content in juice. Should have low level of non-sugars Should have high purity. Should have optimum fibre content. Should have negligible amount of unwanted materials (Trash, binding materials, dead and dry canes, mud particulars, water shoots etc.,) Should have higher quantity of juice. There should not be pith in the cane The cane should not have flowered.

Factors affecting the cane quality. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Variety Flowering Climate Soil Age of the crop Fertilizer Irrigation water Pests and diseases.

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Variety 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Quality of juice is primarily a varietal characteristic. Varieties differ with respect to their sugar content, juice composition and fibre content. High fibre in cane results less extraction percent. Higher percentage of fibre in cane results in higher proportion of residual juice in bagasse leads to a higher milling loss. To maximize and to maintain uniform singer recovery continuously through out the season, cane fields which have recorded above 16% pol and 85% purity alone are to be selected for harvest.

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Identification of early maturing high sugar varieties with good juice quality, maintenance of longer duration in the field and possessing resistance to post harvest inversion is important in the selection of varieties.

Flowering 1. 2. Flowering generally results in cessation of vegative growth, leading to cane maturing and sugar accumulation. If flowering occurs much earlier before the maturing of cane and the cane is allowed to be in the field for more than three months after flowering, deterioration in juice quality sets in due to inversion of sucrose into glucose and fructose.

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Climate 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Temperature, humanity and sun shine of a region during maturity are responsible for deciding cane quality. Maximum temperature between 23 and 30oC and minimum between 7 and 14oC are favorable to better juice quality. Deterioration in juice quality sets in where maximum temperature comes down to between 7 and 13oC and the minimum fall below 3oC Rain in winter is normally followed by cold spell and this also brings down the juice quality. Temperature higher than the optimum also deteriorates the juice quality. When the crop is shaded by trees or where there are more cloudy days during maturity phase, there is depression in quality. When the crop is severely affected by drought the juice contains optically active non-sugars.. This gives an apparent increase in sugar content, and leads to an increase in unknown losses in manufacturing process. 8. 9. 10. Under high temperature condition, the juice records low sugars, higher reducing sugars and higher non-sugars. In area, with longer growing perods, higher purities are recoded. Bright sun shine during day time and cool night improve quality.

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Soil 1. 2. Soil is also an important factor which influences the quality of cane. The mineral composition of the juice is governed by the amount of water soluble salts in the soil.

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Salt affected soil produce cane of inferior quality. Under certain soil problems like water logging, salinity and alkalinity etc., Yield as well as juice quality is severelly affected. Water logging or excess moisture leads to lack of aeration in the rhizosphere and this affects absorption of nutrients and moisture by the crop. Plant metabolism (Sucrose Synthesis) is also affected.

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Under water logged conditions aerial root formation leads to inversion of sucrose. Under excess moisture, there may be early maituring but quantity of sugar will be drastically reduced. This is why providing quick drainage is important.

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Water logging during ripening phase is deleterious to juice quality. Under high salinity and alkalinity conditions, total solid content may be more, but purity will be less and this sucrose content will be drastically affected.

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Saline soils yield juices with low purity, high potash and chlorine.

Age of the crop 1. 2. 3. Age of the crop influences the cane quality especially during early part of the crushing season. Under-aged cane will have less sucrose, more reducing sugars and thus low purity. Over-aging leads to cane deterioration. Over aged cane will have more fibre, less juice, more dead and dry canes, more pith and these will affect recovery. 4. Optimum age for (a) Early varieties (c) Late varieties 10 12 months (b) mid-late varieties - 12 months - 14 -15 months

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Fertilizer 1. 2. Sugarcane removes on an average 1.0 kg N, 0.6 kg P2O5 and 1.75 kg, K2O per tonne of cane To obtain optimum yield and juice quality, the nutrition applied should be in required propositions. Excess or deficit of any one leads to imbalance in crop nutrition which affects not only yield, but also juice quality.

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Excess or late application of nitrogen (usually beyond 90-120 days) depress the juice sucrose content and increase the non-sugar component of juice leading to poor recoveries.

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High tissue Nitrogen leads to continued vegetative growth and thus delays maturity. It produces late tillers and water shoots. It increases sheath moisture and soluble nitrogen content in the juice.

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Low sucrose, high reducing sugar content and lower purities are common under excess nitrogen. The phosphate content in juice is depressed with increase of nitrogen at higher doses, there by giving higher values of N/P ratio. The N/P ratio is negatively associated with sucrose content in juice.

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Amount of phosphate (about 300 PPM) is required for proper processing (Clarification) Potassium plays a very important role in juice quality Under drought and excess moisture conditions late additional application of potassium helps in proper ripening of cane ; excess application of K in soil already rich in K should be avoided as excess K in juice results in loss of sucrose in to molasses.

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A balanced application of N, P and K in time based on soil test values will help in getting cane of good quality. At least seven micro nutrients including Fe, Zn and Boron play important role in improving juice quantity.

Irrigation water 1. 2. 3. The quantity and quality of irrigation water also influences the juice quality to a large extent. River water irrigation produces juice of better quality as compared to Sugarcane grown under wall water. Reduction in shealth moisture by increasing interval of irrigation at maturity phase is reported to be conducive for increased sucrose content in juice. 4. 5. Gradual withdrawal of moisture one month before harvest is known to hasten maturity and improve quality. Use of saline water leads to accumulation of salts in juice particularly that of sodium, Chloride, Potassium etc., leading to problems in sugar manufacture.

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Pests and diseases

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Pest and disease affected cane shows lower sucrose content and higher non-suagr content in juice. Often the juice from the infected / infested sugarcane particularly that of borers, red rot and smut disease affect the juice quality and cause considerasale hardship affecting the sugar recovery.

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The Red Rot disease has been reported to cause yield losses upto 3070%. In addition the major quality parameters of brix, pol and purity are severely reduced.

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Smut infection in sugarcane adversely affects juice quality. Wilt infection resulted in reduction in sucrose recovery by 29% Sugarcane Mosaic Virus (SCMV) infected cane revealerd their virus infection caused significant reduction in brix, sucrose and purity values.

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING SUGAR RECOVERY

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 1.

Varieties & varietal scheduling. Staggared planting Use of early maturing high sugarcane varities Healhy seed programmed Optimum age at harvest Peak maturity of cane Maturity survey based cutting orders Claen cane supply Optimum cane harvest rate to meet the crushing rete. Efficient cane harvest labour force Efficient communications system Comparanation of Cane harvesting programme.

Varieties and Varietal shoulding 1. 2. Choosing proper varities suitable for individual factories is an important task. Varietal performance varies among different zones and divisions within a factory area depending upon soil type, irrigation potential and quality, drainage facilities, pest & disease problem etc., These factors must be studied and varieties should be appropriately chosen.

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Staggared planting 1. 2. Involves deciding upon the requirement of quality cane of different crushing periods and planting in different periods to meet the demand. A staggared planting would help to avoid under- aged as well as overaged cane.

Use of early maturing / high sugared varieties. 1. 2. Early maturing / high sugared varieties are an essential component of recovery improvement. Since the early part of the season is characterised by poor recoveries, inclusion of only early or a grate percentage of early varieties would help improver the recovery. 3. Planting of the early varieties earlier in the season and crushing them early in the crushing would not only give higher recoveries but also higher yields.

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Avoiding lodging, bud sproutingand aerial rooting 1. 2. 3. Lodging, bud sprouting and aerial rooting reduce cane quality directly. Good earthing up, deep planting, propping and paired row planting would help check lodging significantly. Detrashing is a sound practice which reduces bud sprouting considerably.

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Newer planting technologes to obtain quality cane. 1. Deep planting, ring system of planting and polybag transplanting are the newer planting technologies which give better quality cane.

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Healthy seed programme 1. Under commericial cultivation most of the sugarcane varieties degenerate due to build up of diseases (Particularly RSD, GSD, Smut wilt etc.,) poor growing conditions (Salinity, alkalinity, moisture stress, waterlogging etc.,) and improper crop management (less water and nutrients) varieties lose not only yield potential but also quality. 2. To maintain a high recovery levels, having a healthy 3-tier seed nursery programme is indispensable.

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Optimum age at harvest 1. Early varieties - Should not be less minim 10 months

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Mid late varieties 12 months Late varieties - 14-15 months

Peak maturity of cane Characteristics of a good quality cane 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Should have accumulated peak sucrose content in juice. Should have low level of non-sugars Should have high purity. Should have optimum fibre content. Should have negligible amount of unwanted materials (Trash, binding materials, dead and dry canes, mud particulars, water shoots etc.,) Should have higher quantity of juice. There should not be pith in the cane The cane should not have flowered.

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Pre harvest maturity survey 1. 2. 3. Pre harvest maturity survey helps in assessing maturity status of the crop and thus best quality cane can be ensured for each days crush. By pre-harvest maturity survey alone, the sugar recovery cane be improved to an extent of 0.5 to 0.8 per cent units. The economics of the Pre harvest matyurity survey indicats a highly favourable net profits, with a benefit / cost ratio for the operation highly around 16.

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Varietal mix To maintain a high level of recovery, a certain level of varietal mix involving a high quality cane would help rather than a single variety at any particular period of crushing.

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Harvest of Flowered cane 1. 2. Flowered cane fields to be harvested within there month of fowering to get better recovery. If the harvesting is delayed beyond 3 months of flowering, we will be wasting valuable sugar already accumulated in the crop.

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Weather Condition Moderactly low humidity (45-65%), limited water supply, low night temperatures, warm and sunny days have favourable influence on the maturity of the grown up cane and sugar recovery.

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Pre harvest irrigation 1. Gradual with drawal of moisture one month before the harvest of cane, hasten maturity and sugar recovery.

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During the maturity phase, the sheath moisture level should be brought down to around 74 to 76% from 84-85% during growth phase to get better recovery.

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Chemical Ripeners 1. Spray of chemical ripeners like Polaris, Sodium, metasilicate, Ethrel etc., during early season improver cane quality and thus recovery.

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Method of harvest. Use of appropriate harvesting tools , ground level harvest of cane, low topping and avoidanance of extraneous matter like watershoots, trash and binding materials etc., will help in improving sugar recovery.

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Transport of Cane 1. 2. 3. In the, transport management harvesting rate, tarnporting rate and crushing rate should be synchronized and should match one another. Only minimum yard balance should be made to meet crushing during any break in the transport system. The waiting time for lorries, tractors or bullock carts in the yard should not be more then 2 hours

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Effective Communications These should be an effective communication system to coordinate the

harvest management activities.