The Effect of Weather and Climate on the Sucrose Content of Sugarcane

Abstract

In the endeavor to ascertain the influence of some specific weather and climatic factors on the sucrose content of sugarcane at harvesttime in Puerto Rico, data on past crops of such commercial varieties as, P.R. 902, M. 28, P.R. 905, P.O.J. 2878, and others, were re-examined and re-evaluated. There were significant variations in the sucrose content of the same varieties when grown in the same regions in different crop years. These variations were related to weather conditions. Canes harvested at southern irrigated plantations with low rainfall consistently yielded more sucrose than those grown elsewhere, while those grown in the west were higher in sucrose than those grown in the interior, north, or east. In the former region field-irrigation schedules provide for a drying out of the cane from 45 to 60 days before harvest, while the cane was normally harvested during the drier season of the year in the other regions mentioned.