Features of cultivation and use of sugar cane

Sugar cane grows in tropical climates with heavy rainfall. It is grown for sugar, furniture and other items.

Growing

Sugarcane is a perennial with a root system located in the top layer of soil. Stems with a diameter of 5 cm, a height of up to 6 m. The color is green, purple, brown. The leaves are long, wide, lance-shaped.

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Sugarcane is cultivated in Asia and Africa

IN middle lane the reed is grown as an annual. On an industrial scale, its planting is not justified.

Before planting, prepare the landing area. Select the brightest place. In the fall, dig up the area, remove weeds, and apply rotted manure. In the spring, dig up the bed again and add Nitroammofosk fertilizer.

The plant is grown in two ways:

• From seeds. Place the seeds in holes 2 cm deep. Plant when the ground warms up to +15 ° C. After 10 days, shoots will appear. In cool climates, grow reed seedlings. Place the seeds in peat pots and plant the grown plants in open ground.
• Cuttings. Select strong, mature stems. Remove the leaves, divide the shoot into 35 cm long pieces. Dig a furrow 20 cm deep and add compost. Place the cuttings horizontally and cover them with soil. The cane will sprout in 2 weeks.

Leave 35 cm between plantings, 50 cm between rows. Water 2 times a week, weed the weeds and hill up the shoots.

Start harvesting reeds 4 months after germination. The plants are 2-3 m high and begin to bloom. Cut the stems at the root and clear them of leaves. Daily mature plant loses 3% sugar, so clean it in a timely manner.

Application

Without processing, cane cannot be stored or consumed. Cane sugar is produced from the plant, which improves brain activity and replenishes the energy balance in the body.

The process of processing into sugar involves crushing the stems and extracting the juice. The liquid is cleared of impurities and then crystallizes.

Cane sugar is different brown and a pronounced aroma of molasses. The resulting sucrose is a preservative and component of medications.

Summer furniture, baskets, dishes, packaging, and musical instruments are made from reed.

After processing, the stems and leaves become feed for livestock. They are used as fuel to keep homes warm.

The plant serves as a raw material for the production of cardboard and paper. In southern countries, its shoots are used to construct roofs, since the material has good sound and heat insulation properties.

Use cane decoctions to treat colds. An infusion of shoots is useful for vitamin deficiency. Plant-based products are contraindicated in diabetes mellitus, glucose intolerance, galactose.

The reeds are planted in sunny areas and watered abundantly as they grow. Sugar is obtained from the stems and used for the production of furniture and other products.

It is difficult to imagine life without sugar today. Of course, you can live without it, but most people would have to dramatically change their diet. Sugar has become so firmly established in the diet that the sugar industry is now one of the most important sectors of the world economy.

Growing, harvesting and processing sugar cane employs tens of millions of people around the world. There was a time when sugar production was the most profitable and largest industrial sector of the entire world economy. Very few plants can match the impact on the world of sugar cane.

Travel to Australia

To learn more about this plant, you need to go to Australia, namely to the state of Queensland. Sugar cane is grown here. Today there are not very many plantations of this plant, but effective methods Sugarcane growing and processing have made Queensland one of the world's leading exporters of unrefined sugar.

Sugar cane is harvested using cane harvesters. They cut the plant stems and then dump them into a nearby trailer. After some time, sweet sugar juice begins to ooze from the reed and gradually the surrounding air begins to fill with sweet and pleasant aroma. So from the field begins the path of this sweet juice to the sugar bowls on the tables of the inhabitants of the whole Earth.

Until recently, sugar cane in Australia was harvested by hand, as is done in most countries of the world today. This work is very difficult. Today, there is still a general global trend towards mechanization of sugar cane harvesting.

Sugar cane is grown in Australia mainly in a narrow coastal strip about 2,100 kilometers long. A significant part of this strip runs along the Great Barrier Reef. It is very humid and warm here throughout the year. For sugarcane it is ideal conditions. It is home to about 6,500 owners of small family cane fields that are scattered along the Queensland coast.

The sugar town of Bundaberg is located near the coast in central Queensland. Thousands of hectares of reed of varying degrees of maturity grow around it, so the plantations seem to shimmer different colors and shades - from golden and green to chocolate brown.

Here in this area, July is the coldest month. During this period, sugar cane harvesting begins. It lasts until December, as the harvest ripens gradually. There is a research facility nearby experimental station to create new varieties of this unique herb. Here scientists conduct various experiments to develop new, more productive and resistant varieties reed

If we go back a little into the history of sugar cane, it was first found in the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and Southeast Asia. This plant is considered a kind of “king” in its family of grasses, which also includes woody bamboo, lawn grass and cereals. The leaves of all these plants produce sugar through the process of photosynthesis. But sugar cane differs from other plants in its much higher sugar content, which accumulates in its stems in the form of sweet juice.

Sugar cane began to be grown in ancient India. When Alexander the Great came to these lands with his army, his scribes noticed and then wrote that local residents“they chewed some wonderful reed that gave sweet honey without the help of bees.” In the 15th century, along with the exploration and rapid development of the world, active cultivation of sugar cane began. Today there are several thousand varieties of this unique plant. Reed is grown in 80 countries around the world, and the total world harvest is about a billion tons.

In most countries, planting sugarcane is a very labor-intensive process. The stems of already mature reeds are cut into small cuttings about 40 centimeters in length and planted in prepared furrows about 1.5 meters apart. Over time, each seedling grows into a bush with a number of stems from 8 to 12. Reed ripening lasts from 12 to 16 months. It is quite difficult to get through its thickets. The reed grows up to 4 meters in height, and its leaves become massive and thick.

Today, the fight against diseases and pests of sugar cane is very important. Many of these efforts were successful, but not all. For example, to combat insects, the aga toad was brought from the Hawaiian Islands. Contrary to all expectations, this toad found more delicious food than insects harmful to reeds. Over time, it multiplied greatly and spread throughout north-eastern Australia and soon became a pest itself.

To make it easier to harvest, planters begin to set fire to ripe sugar cane closer to night. The fire engulfs the entire plantation in a few seconds and soon all that remains is just bare stems. This is done to make it convenient to harvest. But today, more and more often, reeds are harvested without such a grandiose burning. This type of cleaning is called green cleaning. This method allows you to increase the amount of cane sugar and at the same time maintain a protective layer of mulch on the ground. This is very helpful in controlling weeds and soil erosion.

Today, in many countries where sugar cane is grown, the crop is still harvested by hand. First, the tops and all leaves are cut off, then the stems are cut into small pieces for ease of processing with a press. In one day, a worker can remove up to 5 tons of reed, and this work is far from easy. With one harvester per day you can easily collect up to 300 tons of stems. The harvest from one field can be harvested for several years in a row. Every year the amount of sugar produced by the cane will decrease, and soon the plant in this field will need to be changed.

After cutting the cane, it is very important to process it quickly, otherwise the sugar in the cut stalk begins to deteriorate after some time. To speed up the delivery of cane to processing sites in Queensland, about 4 thousand kilometers of narrow gauge railways were laid railways. Small locomotives run along them, diligently pulling dozens of wagons filled to the top with reed stalks. The spectacle is quite exciting and interesting.

When the train has arrived at its unloading point, the stalks begin to be crushed using huge stalk cutters and drums, which squeeze the sweet, sugary juice out of the cane fibers. The remaining fibers are dried and used as fuel for the presses. All surplus is sold to manufacturers of building materials and paper.

All impurities are then carefully removed from this sugar juice, leaving only pure liquid. Impurities isolated from the juice are widely used in the fertilizer industry. Molasses, another by-product from cane processing, is used as livestock feed and as a raw material for the distillation of industrial alcohol and rum.

All the water evaporates from the purified liquid and what remains is a concentrated syrup containing small sugar crystals. They are allowed to grow until they reach required size. They are then removed from this liquid and dried. The result is unrefined granulated sugar. In the process of subsequent purification, it turns into that refined sugar familiar to everyone.

The world's sugar production primarily uses two crops: sugar cane and sugar beets. Reed grows mainly in tropical zones, less often in subtropical ones. Its share in world sugar production is about 65%. The share of sugar beets will accordingly be about 35%. It grows in colder regions of the planet, mainly in Europe, the USA and Canada. Cane sugar is no different in composition from beet sugar.

The work of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Dry Subtropics (VNIISS), carried out in the period 1938-1939. the possibility of industrial cultivation of sugar cane in the southern regions of the Tajik SSR and the southeastern regions of the Uzbek SSR has been proven.

Initially, experiments in growing sugar cane in the southern regions of the USSR were aimed at producing sugar from it. However, it later became clear that for economic reasons this was not practical. Subsequently, the production of rum from sugar cane juice was adopted. If this turns out to be profitable, then the possibility of growing sugar cane for the production of sugar using the resulting cane molasses to produce rum cannot be ruled out.

Considering that wild sugar cane (S. spontanewn) grows in the floodplains of the Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Pyanj, Kafirnigan and other rivers, the Institute of Dry Subtropics (VNIISS) launched experiments on growing varietal sugar cane in these places: first near Shartuz , and then in Parhar, Termez and Denau.

Sugar cane is cultivated in the northern hemisphere up to 37° north. latitude and in rare cases reaches 39° north. latitude. In the southern hemisphere - up to 30° south latitude.

In Europe, sugar cane is currently cultivated only on the Mediterranean coast from Cadiz to Almeria at 37° north. latitude.

Our southern regions of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan according to climatic indicators for the summer growing season in general can be equated to the northern European regions of the zone of industrial sugarcane cultivation. The significant difference is that the regions of Central Asia have very low humidity air in summer period and only some of them, like Parkhar, surrounded on all sides by the Pyanj and Kzyl-Su rivers with lush tugai vegetation, have higher relative air humidity, due to which sugar cane develops much better here.

Observations have shown that sugar cane dies when the temperature drops to - 3.5-4.5°.

It develops well in a humid, warm climate, but cannot tolerate excess ground moisture. On soil rich in humus, reed develops well, but less sugar accumulates in it. On the contrary, on sandy soils the plant develops worse, but its sugar content is higher. Dense and marshy soils are not suitable for sugarcane. Suitable soil for this crop should be considered well-drained clay soil or clay-containing humus, that is, soil of alluvial origin.

By chemical composition the soil must contain at least 1% lime. Soils poor in lime produce a lot of acids, and the best soil reaction for sugarcane cultivation is neutral or slightly alkaline. Sugarcane tolerates soil salinity, but this causes a deterioration in the quality of its juice.

The formation of one gram of sugar cane dry matter requires 900 g of water, since the evaporation rate of this plant is very high. Therefore, in the absence of rain, frequent and abundant watering is needed.

Sugar cane - perennial, but in Central Asia it is cultivated as an annual, due to the fact that it cannot withstand low winter temperatures.

In our conditions, sugar cane does not bloom or produce seeds, so it is planted from stem cuttings every year in the spring.

VNIISS tested the following varieties of sugar cane: Yuba, Agaul LVS, SO-281, SR-807, ROU-36. The experiments were carried out in Farkhar and Termez.

The abundance of tugai vegetation in the floodplain of the Pyanj River creates a microclimate in Parkhar with relatively high relative humidity, which, in combination with high temperature, is most suitable for sugarcane crop.

For comparison, we note that from 1 hectare of sowing sugar beets on irrigated lands, 90 centners of sugar are obtained, on non-irrigated lands - 45 centners.

As can be seen from the above figures, sugar cane in Central Asia produces approximately the same amount of sugar as sugar beets grown without irrigation.

After three years of experimental work on the cultivation of sugar cane, VNIISS developed agrotechnical instructions for the cultivation of sugar cane for the southern regions of the Tajik and Uzbek SSR.

These agricultural instructions boil down to the following.

Sugar cane growing areas. Sugar cane is a very demanding crop in terms of heat, soil and high humidity air during the growing season. Therefore, the southern regions of the Tajik SSR (Parkhar, Mikoyanabad, Shartuz, Voroshilovabad, Molotovabad, etc.), regions of the southeastern part of the Uzbek SSR (Termez, Jar-Kurgan, Denau, etc.) and, possibly, are promising for sugar cane culture in the USSR. ; some regions of the Azerbaijani and Georgian SSR.

Sugarcane varieties recommended foraboutproduction. As a result of variety testing of a number promising varieties sugar cane, taken from the world collection of the best industrial varieties, tested at the VNIISS strongholds: Termez, Farkhar, Mikoyanabad and Denau, two varieties are recommended for industrial crops in the southern regions of the Tajik and Uzbek SSR: SR-807 and SR-28/19. Let's give a brief description of them.

CP-807 - has a powerful bush, the stems of which touch each other at the base, and diverge at the top.

The leaves are spreading, wide, dark green in color. The color of the ripened internodes of the stem is light purple with a brown tint and matte, due to a continuous waxy coating. Variety CP-807 belongs to the thick-stemmed type. The stems have a diameter of 30-40 mm. The length of internodes is 150-180 mm. At the base of the stem: internodes are shorter. The leaf blades are curved in the middle part. Drying out lower leaves by the time of harvesting it reaches 40-50%. During the tillering period, the variety has a spreading appearance and requires careful inter-row cultivation. At the end of the growing season, occasionally: cracking of the stems is observed. Variety SR-807 is productive, mid-season. In Parkhar, he gave a harvest of 1100-1200 technical stems per 1 hectare (calculated from experimental plots). The sugar content is low - 10% by weight of the juice, but the sugar yield per unit is high, thanks to the powerful development of the plants. The variety is damaged by stem pests.

SR-28/19 - has a loose bush. The stems and leaves are almost erect, which makes it possible to carry out mechanized inter-row cultivation throughout the entire growth period. Drying of leaves by the end of the growing season is about 30%. Variety SR-28/19 belongs to the medium-stem varieties. Stem diameter 25-36 mm. The length of internodes is 150-200 mm. The outer color of the stem is green-yellow. The stem is slightly covered with a waxy coating. The variety is productive, early ripening, experimental sowings gave up to 750 quintals of technical stems per 1 ha (Parkhar).

The SR-28/19 variety is the most sugary among the varieties tested in Central Asia. The sugar content in juice reaches 15%. Slightly damaged by stem pests.

Both varieties described are hybrid varieties. VNIISS continues to work to identify high-yielding, early-ripening and sugary varieties of sugar cane suitable for cultivation in Central Asia.

Crop rotation. For our conditions, we can outline the following crop rotation: 3 years of alfalfa, 2-3 years of sugar cane, again alfalfa, etc. In areas of large infestation with rhizomatous weeds, it may be necessary to include black fallow in the crop rotation.

Selecting a site for sowing sugar cane. The soil for sowing sugar cane should be culturally irrigated, with low groundwater (not higher than 1-4.5 m), light or medium in mechanical composition (sandy loam or loamy). The plots should be well supplied with irrigation water and have a flat topography. In uneven areas, due to uneven irrigation during watering, variegated development of plants is observed, which leads to a decrease in yield.

The soil of the site must be fertile, not depleted, loose and cleared of perennial rhizomatous weeds (gumai, kylkia, licorice, adopiric, etc.). Cuttings of sugar cane planted in the spring do not grow for a long time (about three weeks), so when shoots appear, weeds can choke out the young plants. If the soil is clogged, then in the spring it is difficult to distinguish sugarcane seedlings from cereal weeds. During spring weeding, young sugarcane shoots are often pulled out along with weeds.

When preparing areas for sugar cane, it is useful to keep heavily weeded soils in a dry year-long fallow. The treatment of such steam consists of uprooting the rhizomes of perennial weeds, drying them in the sun and burning them.

Areas for sugar cane are selected in the fall to ensure the opportunity to produce everything preparatory work, that is, plan, plow and fertilize.

Sugar cane is a light-loving plant and does not tolerate shade. That's why land plot underneath it should be completely open, away from tree plantings.

Soil preparation. After harvesting the plants of the previous sowing, tractor plowing of the area is carried out to a depth of 25-30 cm.

On weedy soils (fallow lands, alfalfa), two autumn plowings are carried out. The first is shallower, 15-18 cm, and the second is deeper, 25-30 cm. Before the second plowing, fertilizers are applied.

There should be a break of at least one month between the first and second plowings. After each plowing, weeds are carefully selected. Autumn plowing, in addition to loosening the soil and clearing it of the rhizomes of perennial weeds, contributes to the accumulation of moisture in the soil and the fight against certain agricultural pests and plant diseases. In order to additionally accumulate moisture in the soil, one winter watering can also be recommended in December or January.

After the second autumn plowing, the field is left unharrowed for the winter. Dry remains of weeds are collected from the field and intercroppings into heaps, and then burned. If there are dry bushes and dry grass in the intervening areas nearby, then they also need to be burned, since one of the sugar cane pests, the stem borer, overwinters here.

In the spring, as the soil dries out on the site, double spring plowing is carried out to a depth of 20-25 cm, followed by harrowing and sampling of weed rhizomes.

For soft and loose soils, one spring plowing is sufficient. After this, the area is harrowed with horse-drawn or tractor harrows "zig-zag" in 3-4 tracks to make the soil surface even and smooth.

Before the last plowing, apply mineral fertilizers per 1 hectare:

nitrogen (N) - 60 kg

phosphoric acid (P 2 O 5) - 20

potassium oxide (K 2 O) - 30-40

Soil preparation for sowing sugar cane should be completely completed by March 15-20.

Procurement, storage and preparation for planting of sugarcane planting material. Planting material is prepared in the fall. The best, most ripened sugar cane crops are selected for it. Sugarcane intended for planting is harvested in late October or early November. It is very important that it is not exposed to frost, since frosts below 4° kill the buds of this delicate plant.

Cut sugarcane stalks are carefully sorted.

After sorting and cleaning the leaves, the sugar cane stalks are stored strictly according to variety. Trenches for storing planting material are dug 1.5-2 m deep, 2 m wide and of arbitrary length depending on the amount of stored material.

Sugarcane stalks are laid in trenches in layers. Each layer (one stem thick) is sprinkled with a thin layer of earth. When the trench is filled in this way, a layer of earth 500-600 mm thick is poured on top with slopes on both sides of the trench to drain water. Grooves are installed around the trench to drain water.

In spring, the stems are dug up and sorted again. Only the best, healthiest are left for landing planting material. All stems that are not ripe, with damaged or questionable buds, are discarded. Before planting, the stems are cut into separate cuttings with two healthy buds. When cutting stems into cuttings, the internode is cut in half so that the cut is not close to the bud.

The cuttings are delivered to the field, where they are immediately planted to avoid drying out.

If during winter storage the planting stems have somewhat dried out or wilted, then before cutting them into cuttings they should be immersed for a day in water with a temperature of at least 15-18°. In this case, the stems are cut into cuttings after soaking. This event promotes better rooting and regrowth of cuttings. To some extent, the lock is also one of the ways to combat the pest - the reed borer.

It should also be borne in mind that before laying the stems for winter storage, it is necessary to cut off the apical, immature parts of the stem, since decay always begins with them.

Sugar cane planting. Before planting sugarcane cuttings, the field is marked with a horse marker. The direction of the rows is set in such a way as to ensure in the future proper watering sowing along furrows. The marker is made in 4 teeth with a distance between teeth of 1.2 m.

After marking the fields, they begin to make furrows with a double-furrow horse-drawn plow with a device that fills the bottom of the furrow with loose soil.

Sugarcane cuttings are placed in a furrow at a distance of 50-60 cm for the SR-28/19 variety and 80 cm for SR-807, so that the plant density per 1 hectare is: for the SR-28/19-13 thousand variety, for SR- 807-40 thousand. By moving the plow in reverse, the furrow with the cuttings is filled up, and the other one remains as an irrigation furrow. The plow is installed so that the cuttings are buried to a depth of 6-8 cm.

At the end of planting, post-planting watering is carried out with a shallow stream of water to avoid erosion of the still loose furrow.

In the first years of sugarcane cultivation, in order to save planting material and guarantee the correct number of plants planted per 1 hectare, sugarcane is planted with pre-germinated cuttings. Germination is carried out by planting cuttings in a semi-warm greenhouse 20-30 days before planting. Sprouts from such germinated cuttings quickly appear on the soil surface, grow better and more vigorously, reducing and facilitating the initial care of the crop. To avoid frost damage, germinated cuttings should be planted not too early, namely between April 10-25, depending on local meteorological conditions.

Depending on the type of sugar cane, the amount of planting material is 20-25 centners per 1 hectare.

Watering sugarcane crops during the growing season. Watering of sugarcane crops is carried out along the furrows with a small stream (infiltration irrigation), preventing flooding of the ridges. The soil should be well moistened by horizontal and vertical infiltration until the furrow crest turns black.

Irrigation by flooding and flooding is not recommended. The best time days for watering should be considered the second half of the day and night. The most advanced method of irrigation is tube irrigation.

At the beginning of the growing season, at lower temperatures, watering is carried out every 10-12 days, and starting from June, more often - every 8-10 days. The frequency of watering and the amount of water depend, in addition to meteorological conditions, also on the structure of the soil. On light and less moisture-intensive soils, watering is carried out more often, but less water is given. Overdrying of the soil, as well as excessive moisture, is not allowed. The soil should be moist, but not wet, throughout the growing season, since sugar cane does not tolerate swampy conditions.

Inter-row cultivation of sugar cane crops. Loosening the rows is usually done with horse-drawn cultivators, and in the rows the soil is loosened manually with ketmen. Loosening the soil should begin as it dries. Drying out of the soil after watering is not allowed." During the growing season of sugar cane, it is necessary to give 10-12 loosenings with a horse-drawn cultivator to a depth of 10 cm.

Simultaneously with loosening, all weeds are removed. By the end of the growing season (August, September), loosening, especially in rows, should be carried out more superficially so as not to damage root system, which in sugar cane comes close to the surface, spreading in the horizontal direction.

In addition, during the growing season you should give at least 2-3 additional fertilizers, which include:

nitrogen (N) - 90 kg

phosphorus (P 2 O 5) - 40 kg

potassium (K 2 O) - 30 kg

During the last feeding, mainly potassium and a little nitrogen are added.

Harvest. The duration of the growing season within the active average temperatures (+15°) for sugar cane in our country is 180-200 days. In areas of wide distribution (India, Java), sugar cane has a much longer growing season, which better ensures its high yield. Therefore, we should strive to extend the growing season as much as possible, taking advantage of all the favorable meteorological conditions of a given year.

First of all, sugar cane is harvested, intended as planting material for the next year; later, sugar cane is harvested for factory processing.

Usually from October 20-30 before the onset of the first autumn frosts or after the first small matinees, sugar cane is harvested for planting; Harvesting of sugar cane intended for processing takes place in early November and can continue throughout November and even a little later.

Harvesting is carried out by a team: two cut off the tops with panicles with a sickle to hard internodes, two workers following them chop the stems with special heavy knives (chops); followed by the remaining 7-8 people who clear the stems of leaves. Such harvesting is very labor-intensive work, and during industrial reed plantings it must be replaced by mechanized harvesting.

Cleaned sugarcane stalks are sent to the factory to be processed into sugar, fresh leaves are used for ensiling or directly fed to livestock, and dry leaves and other cane residues in the field are piled up and burned for pest control purposes.

It is advisable to immediately process the stems sent to the plant on the same day to avoid sugar losses.

Control of pests and diseases of sugar cane. The main pest of sugar cane is the cane stem borer. This is followed by the mole cricket and the fall armyworm. The reed is also partially damaged by beetleworm (larva) and locusts.

Borers are a group of insects whose larvae (caterpillars) cause damage to sugar cane by boring passages in its stems. In spring, on young reed shoots, stem moth butterflies lay eggs on the underside of the leaf or in the vagina. After a few days, young caterpillars hatch, which feed on the surface of the plant for 1-2 days, and then penetrate the stem and completely drill it, causing the stem to die.

The fight against stem moths involves filing the plant with arsenic preparations, and it is very important not to miss the moment the caterpillars hatch, that is, the moment when they are still on the surface and have not penetrated into the interior of the stem. The stem moth produces several generations over the summer, so treatment of plants with arsenic preparations should be carried out several times, timing them to coincide with the hatching of the caterpillars.

A preventative method of combating stem moths is to keep the area and surrounding intersecting areas free of weeds. Especially in the fall, all dry remains of eriangus, gumai, wild sugar cane, reeds and other weeds damaged by common pests with sugar cane should be burned in the intergrowths and near the site. Soaking planting material for 24 hours is also useful in the fight against stem moths.

Ordinary poisoned baits made from corn are used against mole crickets.

Fall armyworm and wireworm can be controlled by introducing black fallow into sugarcane areas.

It should be noted that grade SR-28/19 is not damaged by the driller.

In tropical countries, sugar cane is affected by a number of diseases, namely: mosaic, rust, black rot, red rot, yellow spot, etc. In our conditions, these diseases do not exist. Only sporadic reed blight damage was observed in Denau, and some rust damage was noted in Termez.

Sugar cane resembles bamboo: its cylindrical stems, often reaching a height of 6-7.3 m with a thickness of 1.5-8 cm, grow in bunches. Sugar is obtained from their juice. At the nodes of the stems there are buds, or “eyes,” that develop into short side shoots. From them, cuttings are obtained that are used to propagate reeds. Seeds are formed in the apical panicle inflorescences. They are used for breeding new varieties and only in exceptional cases as seed material. The plant requires a lot of sun, heat and water, as well as fertile soil. That is why sugar cane is cultivated only in areas with a hot and humid climate.

At favorable conditions it grows very quickly, its plantations before harvesting look like impenetrable jungles. In Louisiana (USA), sugar cane matures in 6-7 months, in Cuba it takes a year, and in Hawaii - 1.5-2 years. To ensure maximum sucrose content in the stems (10-17% by weight), the crop is harvested as soon as the plant stops growing in height. If harvesting is done manually (using long machete knives), the shoots are cut off close to the ground, after which the leaves are removed and the stems are cut into short pieces that are convenient for processing. Manual cleaning is used where work force is cheap or the site features do not allow efficient use of machines. On large plantations, they usually use technology that first burns out the lower layer of vegetation. Fire destroys the bulk of weeds without damaging the sugar cane, and the mechanization of the process significantly reduces the cost of production.

Story. The right to be considered the birthplace of sugar cane is disputed by two regions - the fertile valleys in northeast India and the Polynesian islands in the South Pacific. However, botanical studies, ancient literary sources and etymological data speak in favor of India. Many woody wild varieties of sugar cane found there do not differ in their main characteristics from modern cultivated forms. Sugarcane is mentioned in the Laws of Manu and other holy books of the Hindus. The word "sugar" itself comes from the Sanskrit sarkara (gravel, sand or sugar); centuries later the term entered Arabic as sukkar and medieval Latin as succarum.

From India, sugarcane culture between 1800 and 1700 BC. entered China. This is evidenced by several Chinese sources, who report that people living in the Ganges Valley taught the Chinese to obtain sugar by boiling its stems. From China, ancient sailors probably brought it to the Philippines, Java and even Hawaii. When Spanish sailors arrived in the Pacific many centuries later, wild sugar cane was already growing on many Pacific islands.

Apparently, the first mention of sugar in ancient times dates back to the time of Alexander the Great's campaign in India. In 327 BC. one of his commanders, Nearchus, reported: “They say that in India there is a reed that produces honey without the help of bees; as if an intoxicating drink can also be prepared from it, although there are no fruits on this plant.” Five hundred years later Galen, chief medical authority Ancient world, recommended “sakcharon from India and Arabia” as a remedy for diseases of the stomach, intestines and kidneys. The Persians, too, although much later, adopted the habit of consuming sugar from the Indians and at the same time did a lot to improve the methods of refining it. Already in the 700s, Nestorian monks in the Euphrates Valley successfully produced white sugar using ash to refine it.

Sugar appeared in Europe during the Crusades. The Arabs introduced the crusaders to sugar from sugar cane. The Arabs, who spread from the 7th to the 9th centuries. their possessions in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain, brought sugar cane culture to the Mediterranean. A few centuries later, the crusaders returning from the Holy Land introduced sugar to all of Western Europe. As a result of the collision of these two great expansions, Venice, located at the crossroads of the trade routes of the Muslim and Christian worlds, eventually became the center of the European sugar trade and remained so for more than 500 years.

In Russia, the first sugar was produced from imported raw sugar from sugar cane. On March 14, 1718, Peter I granted the merchant Pavel Vestov the privilege to produce refined sugar. In the 18th century In Russia, 7 refineries operated for processing raw sugar from sugar cane. The first attempts to cultivate sugar cane in southern Russia date back to the end of the 18th century. Later they were repeated many times, but were unsuccessful, since sugar cane is a tropical and subtropical crop. The area under reed plantings in the world is more than 15 million hectares, the yield of industrial stems is approximately 60 t/ha.

Columbus brought sugar cane to America during his second voyage to Santo Domingo, from where the cane was brought to Cuba in 1493. The development of the sugar industry in Latin America is closely related to the development of slavery. In 1516, Spanish colonialists brought the first slaves from Africa to Cuba.

At the beginning of the 15th century. Portuguese and Spanish sailors spread sugar cane culture to the Atlantic islands. His plantations first appeared in Madeira, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. In 1506, Pedro de Atienza ordered the planting of sugar cane in Santo Domingo (Haiti) - thus this crop penetrated into the New World. In just about 30 years after its appearance in the Caribbean, it spread there so widely that it became one of the main ones in the West Indies, which is now called the “sugar islands”. The role of sugar produced here grew rapidly with increasing demand for it in the countries of Northern Europe, especially after the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 and the importance of the Eastern Mediterranean as a supplier of sugar fell.

With the spread of sugar cane in the West Indies and the penetration of its culture into South America, more and more workers were needed to grow and process it. The natives who survived the invasion of the first conquerors turned out to be of little use for exploitation, and the planters found a way out by importing slaves from Africa. After all, sugar production became inextricably linked to the slave system and the bloody riots it generated that rocked the West Indian islands in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the beginning, sugar cane presses were driven by oxen or horses. Later, in areas blown by trade winds, they were replaced by more efficient wind engines. However, production in general was still quite primitive. After pressing the raw cane, the resulting juice was purified with lime, clay or ash, and then evaporated in copper or iron vats, under which a fire was lit. Refining was reduced to dissolving the crystals, boiling the mixture and subsequent re-crystallization. Even in our time, the remains of stone millstones and abandoned copper vats remind us in the West Indies of the past owners of the islands, who made fortunes from this profitable trade. By the middle of the 17th century. Santo Domingo and Brazil became the main sugar producers in the world.

On the territory of the modern United States, sugar cane first appeared in 1791 in Louisiana, where it was brought by the Jesuits from Santo Domingo. True, they initially grew it here mainly to chew the sweet stems. However, forty years later, two enterprising colonists, Antonio Mendez and Etienne de Boré, established his plantations on the site of present-day New Orleans, with the goal of producing refined sugar for sale. After de Bore's business was successful, other landowners followed his example, and sugar cane began to be cultivated throughout Louisiana.

Subsequently, the main events in the history of cane sugar come down to important improvements in the technology of its cultivation, mechanical processing and final purification of the product.

Recycling. The cane is first crushed to facilitate further extraction of the juice. Then it goes to a three-roll squeezing press. Typically, the cane is pressed twice, wetting it with water between the first and second times to dilute the sweet liquid contained in the bagasse (this process is called maceration).

The resulting so-called "diffusion juice" (usually gray or dark green) contains sucrose, glucose, gum, pectin, acids and various types of impurities. The methods of its purification have changed little over the centuries. Previously, the juice was heated in large vats over an open fire, and ash was added to remove “non-sugars”; Nowadays, lime milk is used to precipitate impurities. Where sugar is produced for local consumption, the diffusion juice is treated with sulfur dioxide (sulfur dioxide) immediately before adding lime to speed up bleaching and purification. The sugar turns out yellowish, i.e. not completely purified, but quite pleasant to the taste. In both cases, after adding lime, the juice is poured into a settling tank-illuminator and kept there at 110-116. With under pressure.

Next important stage in the production of raw sugar - evaporation. The juice flows through pipes into evaporators, where it is heated by steam passing through a closed pipe system. When the concentration of dry matter reaches 40-50%, evaporation is continued in vacuum devices. The result is a mass of sugar crystals suspended in thick molasses, the so-called. massecuite. The massecuite is centrifuged, removing the molasses through the mesh walls of the centrifuge, in which only sucrose crystals remain. The purity of this raw sugar is 96-97%. The removed molasses (mascuite fluid) is boiled again, crystallized and centrifuged. The resulting second portion of raw sugar is somewhat less pure. Then another crystallization is carried out. The remaining edema often still contains up to 50% sucrose, but it is no longer able to crystallize due to large quantity impurities. This product (“black molasses”) is used in the United States mainly as livestock feed. In some countries, for example in India, where the soil is in dire need of fertilizers, the massecuite is simply plowed into the ground.

Refining it briefly boils down to the following. First, raw sugar is mixed with sugar syrup to dissolve the remaining molasses enveloping the crystals. The resulting mixture (affination massecuite) is centrifuged. The centrifuged crystals are washed with steam to obtain an almost white product. It is dissolved into a thick syrup, lime and phosphoric acid are added to float the impurities, and then filtered through bone char (a black granular material obtained from animal bones). The main task at this stage is complete decolorization and deashing of the product. For refining 45 kg of dissolved raw sugar, from 4.5 to 27 kg of bone char are consumed. The exact ratio cannot be determined because the filter's absorption capacity decreases with use. The resulting white mass is evaporated and, after crystallization, centrifuged, i.e. They treat it in much the same way as with sugar cane juice, after which the refined sugar is dried, removing the remaining (about 1%) water from it.

Production. Major producers include Brazil, India, Cuba, as well as China, Mexico, Pakistan, USA, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines.

Cultivated sugarcane is one of the 37 species that make up the Sugarcane genus (Potaceae family). This plant is the world's main “supplier” of sugar.

The homeland of the species is the Pacific Islands. From there it first reached Asia, and then spread across the globe. It grows mainly in tropical zones, but has adapted to some regions in the subtropics.

Attempts to grow it in our country were made during the reign of Peter I. During the era of the Soviet Union, plantations appeared in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Cultivated sugar cane is a perennial whose roots are located in the upper layers of the soil. The plant has powerful stems: up to 6 m in height with a diameter of 5 cm. The color can be green, brown, purple, and variegated. Internodes are smooth, matte. Growth rings are narrow. Juice is extracted from the stems, which is used to obtain sugar.

Green leaves are long, wide, lanceolate. The leaf blades have finely toothed edges and a sharp tip and are very tough. The inflorescence is a spreading panicle with spikelets arranged in pairs. There are fine hairs around the spikelets. Thanks to these long silky “threads” the inflorescence appears fluffy.

Plants are pollinated by the wind. After some time, fruits are formed - small single-seeded grains. Despite the fact that there are tens of thousands of flowers in each inflorescence, very few seeds are set.

Growing

Growing Sugarcane on an industrial scale is considered inappropriate for our country. Nevertheless, enthusiastic gardeners do not abandon the plant. As a rule, it is used as an annual. More often, 1–2 specimens are planted as a curiosity. But getting your own sugar is also quite possible if you have the desire and the garden space allows.

This plant should be given the most illuminated place. In the fall, you should dig up the area, remove weeds, apply complex mineral fertilizers or rotted manure. In the spring, the soil is dug up again, nitroammophos is added and leveled.

Cultivated sugar cane seeds are on sale. Only after the soil has warmed up to +10–15°C, 2 seeds are placed in a hole (about 1.5 cm deep), sprinkled with earth and carefully watered. Shoots appear after 10 days.

ON THE PICTURE: Sugarcane seeds.

If climatic conditions are not the most favorable, it is recommended to grow seedlings. The seeds are placed in peat pots, and the grown seedlings are transferred to open ground.

ON THE PICTURE: Sugarcane can be sown through seedlings.

Cultivated sugar cane rarely produces seeds. Although it’s worth trying to get your own planting material. Of the panicles that appear, only the largest ones should be left, all the rest should be removed. When the inflorescences darken, they are cut off. Until spring comes, they are stored in a suspended state, then threshed.

Cuttings are also used to propagate plants. In autumn, the strongest, well-ripened stems are selected. Having removed the apical part and foliage, they are placed in a trench. An earthen mound 0.5 m high is poured on top. In the spring, it is taken out of the shelter and cut into pieces of 25–30 cm with 2–3 buds on each. They are transferred to open ground, just like seeds, when the soil warms up to +15°C. The cuttings are laid horizontally in moistened grooves and covered with a thin layer of earth.

ON THE PICTURE:Sugar cane cuttings.

Diseases and pests

Stem moth, mole cricket.

Reproduction

Seeds, cuttings.

Secrets of success

Cultivated Sugarcane seedlings cannot resist weeds. Weeding should be done regularly, being careful not to damage the roots of the plant.

Intensive growth begins after 2 months, and then harmful neighbors are no longer scary. At this time, it is necessary to ensure access of air and moisture to the roots.

Water the plant so that the soil is moist but not wet. It is advisable to use water that has been warmed under the sun. It is recommended to carry out evening sprinkling from time to time. Active growth fertilizing contributes. These can be complex mineral fertilizers or organic matter - mullein, chicken droppings.

In Sugarcane, additional stems grow from the root collar. If the plant has a decorative function, they are not touched. To obtain sugar, “extra” shoots must be removed with pruning shears so that the main one accumulates more juice. Harvesting can begin immediately after the inflorescence appears.

Possible difficulties

In cultivation, the plant practically does not get sick. At proper care a pest attack is also unlikely. Regarding some of the nuances of growing this cereal, I would like to note the following:

• If the leaves change color from green to red, the Sugarcane is deficient in phosphorus. In this case, it is urgent to apply appropriate fertilizer.
• When growing a plant, it must be taken into account that lowering the air temperature to +20°C stops growth.
• Cuttings after winter storage sometimes they dry out or wither. In this case, they need to be soaked in water for a day (above +15°C).
• Processing of stems should be carried out immediately after cutting. Delay will result in a decrease in the amount of sugar.