Influence of Cutting Stages and Sugarcane Varieties on Sucrose Content in a Brazilian Power Plant with Mechanized Harvesting

Abstract

This study, carried out in a sugarcane mill located in the center-west region of São Paulo state, Brazil, aimed to evaluate the association of sucrose amount (POL%) with sugarcane varieties and cutting stages using mechanized harvesting. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), complemented by multiple comparison tests, was used in order to identify the effects of variety types and cutting stages on the sugarcane POL% content. An interaction between the sugarcane variety and the cutting stage was observed; therefore, both two factors cannot be independently evaluated regarding POL%. In addition, it was found that the sucrose amount from the plant production in the evaluated period presented significant differences between the cutting stages only for one variety, namely CTC2, which was different from the others in most of the cutting stages. Considering the observed results, it can be concluded that analyzing sucrose amount statistically in the mill production can allow producers to posteriorly better monitor information on the sugarcane varieties harvested under mechanized processes.