From the Handbook
of
Energy Crops, unpublished
by James A. Duke
Saccharum
officinarum L.
Poaceae
Sugarcane, Noblecane
Uses
Folk
Medicine
Chemistry
Toxicity
Description
Germplasm
Distribution
Ecology
Cultivation
Harvesting
Yields
and Economics
Energy
Biotic
Factors
Chemical
Analysis of Biomass Fuels
References
Uses
Cane sugar, cane syrup, molasses, wax, and rum are products of
sugarcane. Molasses is used as a sweetener, in industrial alcohol, for
explosives, synthetic rubber, and in combustion engines. Fresh cane
stems are often chewed, especially by poorer people. Sugar is used as a
preservative for fruits and meats; cane is also made into a liqueur.
The young unexpanded inflorescence of 'tebu telur' is eaten raw,
steamed or toasted, and prepared in various ways. Refuse cane (bagasse)
is used in the manufacture of paper, cardboard, and fuel.
The reeds are
made into pens, mats, screens, and thatch. Sugar is a common adjunct to
unpleasant medicines. Some races are considered magical and are used
ceremoniously. The saw edge of the sugar cane leaf is used to scar the
skin, in preparation of tatooing. A mixture of bagasse and molasses
(Molascuit) is used as cattle feed. The ground and dried cane (after
juice has been expressed) makes an excellent mulch and can be baled and
shipped economically, because of its light weight.
Folk Medecine
Reported to be antidote, antiseptic,
antivinous,
bactericide, cardiotonic, demulcent, diuretic, intoxicant, laxative,
pectoral, piscicide, refrigerant, and stomachic. It is a folk remedy
for arthritis, bedsores, boils, cancer, colds, cough, diarrhea,
dysentery, eyes, fever, hiccups, inflammation, laryngitis, opacity,
penis, skin, sores, sore throat, spleen, tumors, and wounds (Duke and
Wain, 1981).
Powdered sugar is used as a 'drawing' agent for
granulations and "proud flesh" (Hartwell, 1967–1971) and, in a 1:3
solution in water, for gonorrhea and vaginal discharges (Watt and
Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962). The pulped sugar cane is used to dress wounds,
and the cane for splints for broken bones; the Malay women use it in
childbirth. A decoction of the root of the race of 'tebu lanjong' is
used for whooping cough; and the cane juice is given for catarrh. It is
used in elephant medicine; the juice is used to 'make an elephant
sagacious', and in a poultice for sprains (Burkill, 1966). In India,
the plant as well as its juices are used for abdominal tumors.
Chemistry
Per
100 g, the inflorescence is reported to contain 25 calories, 91.0 g
water, 4.6 g protein, 0.4 g fat, 3.0 g total carbohydrate, 1.0 g ash,
40 mg Ca, 80 mg P, 2.0 mg Fe, 0 mg b-carotene equivalent, 0.08 mg
thiamine, 50 mg ascorbic acid. Per 100 g, the leaf is reported to
contain 75 calories, 77.5 g water, 1.8 g protein, 0.8 g fat, 17.7 g
total carbohydrate, 3.0 g fiber, 2.0 g ash; the stem, per 100 g, is
reported to contain 62 calories, 82.5 g water, 0.6 g protein, 0.1 g
fat, 16.5 g total carbohydrate, 3.1 g fiber, 0.3 g ash, 8 mg Ca, 6 mg
P, 1.4 mg Fe, 0 mg b-carotene, 0.02 mg thiamine, 0.01 mg riboflavin,
0.10 mg niacin, 3 mg ascorbic acid (Duke and Atchley, 1984). Per 100 g,
the hay is reported to contain, on a zero-moisture basis, 2.6 g
protein, 1.2 g fat, 92.1 g total carbohydrate, 43.1 g fiber, 4.1 g ash,
3600 mg Ca (Miller, 1958).
Toxicity
The plant
contains hydrocyanic acid. Sugarcane is a known teratogen; and is known
to stimulate somatic mutations (aneuploidy and polyploidy) in plants
(Lewis and Elvin-Lewis, 1977). Molasses, fed alone, or in large amounts
with other feed, may produce diarrhea, colic, kidney irritation,
urticaria, exanthema, leminitis, malanders, profuse sweating and
paralysis, in domestic stock.
Horses seem to be very susceptible, and
1.25 kg daily for 3 weeks, has proved fatal in some; unrefined sugar,
also toxic to the horse, may prove lethal. Twenty to fifty percent of
unrefined sugar added to oat produces skin swelling, weakness in the
hind quarters, paralysis of the urinary bladder, weakness of the heart,
and sometimes, death (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962).
Description
Culms
3–5 m tall, 2–3 cm thick, solid juicy, the lower internodes short,
swollen; sheaths greatly overlapping, the lower usually falling from
the culms; blades elongate, mostly 4–6 cm wide, with a very thick
midrib; panicle plumelike, 20–60 cm long, the slender racemes drooping;
spikelets about 3 mm long, obscured in a basal tuft of silky hairs 2–3
times as long as the spikelet.
Germplasm
Reported
from the Indochina-Indonesia and Hindustani Centers of Diversity,
sugarcane or cvs thereof is reported to tolerate anthracnose, bacteria,
disease, drought, fungus, herbicide, high pH, heavy soil, laterite, low
pH, mildew, sodium, pesticide, rust, sand, smut, virus, waterlog (Duke,
1978). There are many varieties and they are sometimes divided into
these races: Mauritius, Otaheite, Bourbon, Batavian, China, Singapore,
and Indian Cane.
The sugarcanes cultivated in the US are derived
chiefly from four species and their hybrids. In the Noble canes (S.
officinarum, chromosomes 40), the axis of inflorescence is
without long
hairs. Chinese canes (S.
sinensis Roxb., chromosomes 58 to 60), with
long hairs on the axis of inflorescence, are cultivated chiefly for
syrup. S. barberi
Jewsiet (chromosomes 45 or 46) from northern India,
differs from the last in having narrower blades and more slender canes.
The wild cane of Asia (S.
spontaneum L., chromosomes 56), is used as a
basis for hybrids with other species (Hitchcock, 1950). Spurred by
decline, investigators hybridized sugarcane.
First attempts were
restricted to the production of seedlings from crossing different cvs
of S. officinarium.
Modern cvs involve more interspecific
hybridization; most commercial cvs are now tri- or quadrispecific
hybrids. Species involved are S.
officinarium, S spontaneum, S. sinese,
and S. robustum. Fertile progeny have been obtained from
intergeneric
crosses but no germplasm other than Saccharum has
entered commercial
hybrids. Variety development form crossing to commercial planting
required from 10–13 years for testing and seed-cane increase (Irvine,
1981). (2n = 60, 80, 90)
Distribution
Originated in
the South Pacific Islands and New Guinea. Found throughout the tropics
and subtropics. In the US it is cultivated from Florida to Texas.
Sugarcane is cultivated as far as north as 36.7° (Spain) and as far
south as 31° (South Africa) (Irvine, 1981).
Ecology
Ranging
from Warm Temperate Dry to Moist through Tropical Very Dry to Wet
Forest Life Zones, sugarcane is reported to tolerate annual
precipitation of 4.7 to 42.9 dm (mean of 58 cases = 16.7), annual
temperature of 16.0 to 29.9°C (mean of 58 cases = 23.7), and pH of 4.3
to 8.4 (mean of 49 cases = 6.3) (Duke, 1978, 1979). Occurs
gregariously, growing in sunny areas, on soil unsuitable to trees;
needs aeration at the roots and grows in sand but not loam, along sandy
banks of rivers that change their course (Burkill, 1966).
Requires a
hot humid climate, alternating with dry periods, and thrives best at
low elevations on flat or slightly sloping land, with stiff loamy or
alluvial soil; however, it flourishes in any ordinary good soil,
provided the necessary moisture is available (MacMillan, 1925).
Sugarcane in commercial production has endured a maximum of 53°C
(127°F) and a minimum of -13°C (9°F). The high is endured by standing
cane and the low by overwintering stubble. Standing stalks of sugarcane
freeze at -4 to -5.5°C (25 to 22°F) depending on cv and length of
exposure. Sugarcane will survive and tiller at temperatures below 21°C
but stem elongation, which occurs at night, is inhibited by lower
temperatures.
Saccharum
tolerates occasional flooding. While the total
water requirement of sugarcane is high, utilization efficiency is also
high, with about 250 parts of water used for each part of dry matter
produced. Cane is grown on volcanic soils of Hawaii, alluvial soils of
Louisiana, muck soils of Florida, and on the bewildering variety of
tropical soils in Puerto Rico. There are seven types of
sugarcane-growing soils: (1) red soils, rich in iron and porous, but
plastic when wet; (2) black soils with a clay subsoil, poorly drained;
(3) black soils, with a calcareous subsoil, and highly productive; (4)
brown clay loams with a stiff top soil, but responding well to
fertilization; (5) alluvial soils of enduring fertility and easy
cultivation; (6) sands and sandy loams of low fertility, well drained
and of easy cultivation; and (7) soils of organic origin (Irvine, 1981).
Cultivation
Propagated
by stem cuttings, but seed produced in the tropics assist in the
production of cvs through hybridization. Lime in the soil is considered
beneficial for the proper development of the sugar content of the
canes. Manuring is indispensible as the crop is an exhausting one. It
is generally grown for many years in the same ground, without rotation
or rest.
Harvesting
Harvesting commences, according
to the cv and climate, 12–20 months from time of planting, the canes
becoming tough and turning pale yellow when ready for cutting. They are
cut as close to the ground as possible, for the root end of the cane is
the part richest in sugar. The rhizomes will continue to crop for at
least 3–4 years, sometimes up to 8 or more years (MacMillan, 1925).
Yields
and Economics
Sugarcane is cultivated in all tropical and
subtropical regions. In terms of biomass harvested (and transported),
sugarcane is the world's largest crop with 691 million MT reported in
1977/78 (Irvine, 1981). In 1974, there were 592 million MT cane; 434
milk; 354, wheat; 324 corn, and 225 million MT rice in world production
(Irvine, 1981). In 1976, sugar consumption in the US was almost 10
million tons (43 kg per capita) (Ricaud, 1980). In Louisiana alone, the
1976 crop was worth $86 million to the grower, and another $134 million
at the processing, refining, and distribution levels. The theoretical
maximum yield is 280 MT/ha/yr cane and seven countries average more
than 100 (Colombia, Hawaii, Iran, Malawi, Peru, Rhodesia, and
Swaziland). Australia, on small plots, has attained more than 75% of
the theoretical maximum.
Energy
According to the
phytomass files (Duke, 1981b), annual productivity ranges from 25 to 94
MT/ha. Dry matter yield is reported as high as 73 MT/ha (Duke, 1978),
but Irvine (1981) notes that average DM yields are under 16 MT/ha/yr.
In a Brazilian trial, 236–284 MT fresh material/ha were produced when
fertilized with NPK (Bogdan, 1977). Coombs and Vlitos (1978) estimate
cane production at 100 MT/ha fresh weight, or 35 MT dry weight. One ton
of cane will give 250 kg bagasse which on burning produces 6000 kg of
steam. About 4000 kg steam are required to produce 60 to 70 liters
alcohol/ton of cane, or 6000 liters alcohol/ha. In 1979, the world low
production yield figure was 2,941 kg/ha in Yemen, international
production was 56,041 kg/ha, while the world's high production yield
was 126,415 kg/ha (in Peru) (FAO, 1980a). The usual conversion figure
for calculating residues from production is 0.2. According to Thring
(Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London A. 1980. p. 487), if a farmer uses two
horses to work his land, it takes 2 acres (4/5 ha) to feed them, but if
he uses a 2 h.p. cultivator, operated on alcohol, from sugarcane, and
castor oil, it requires only 0.2 acre (4/50 ha) to work it, because he
doesn't have to feed his cultivator all the time.
Maximum growth rate
of sugarcane was 37 g/m2/day for an efficiency of 3.7% (percentage
utilization of solar radiation). Averaged out over the whole year, the
efficiency is only 1%, in Hawaii producing 67.3 MT/ha at the rate of 18
g/m2/day. With an assumed yield of 44 MT/ha, a growing cost of 16–21
Australian dollars/MT, and a transport cost of $2/MT, the energy inputs
in Australian sugarcane are estimated to represent 7–17% of the crop's
energy content. Figuring cost of sugarcane at $15/MT, it is estimated
to cost $359 to convert a ton to ethanol ($12.30 per GJ compared with
$1.25/GJ for Kuwait Oil), i.e. 10 times as expensive as oil as an
energy source at the time (Boardman, 1980). Brazil is producing large
quantities of alcohol from sugarcane and plans to satisfy its liquid
fuel requirements with plant-derived alcohols. In Australia, it would
take 20 times more cane than they now have planted (20 x 3.3 x 105 ha)
to satisfy Australia's total energy requirements (Boardman, 1980).
Recently, Hammond (1977) noted that Brazil, producing 800 million
liters of alcohol from cane, needed to augment production by 50 times
to eliminate oil imports. But cane requires good land, and is a
seasonal crop, with a harvesting period of no more than 100 days. Once
cut, it must be processed quickly, leaving the distilleries idle half
the year. The residue coefficient, defined as the ratio of the weight
of dry matter of residue to recorded harvested weight, ranges from 0.13
to 0.25 (NAS, 1977a). Gaydou et al (1982) come up with surprising data
suggesting that the oil from a hectare of oil palms has more than twice
the energy (ca 36,000 kwh/ha) of the alcohol produced from a hectare of
sugarcane (ca 16,000 kwh). Hopkinson and Day (1980) take a cold look at
energetics of sugarcane-ethanol production, comparing the net energy
benefit of gasoline from Gulf of Mexico oil at 6:1 to a loss for
ethanol produced from sugarcane burning fossil fuel to meet all
industrial requirements. With 50:50 mixtures of bagasse and fossil
fuels, the ratio is 1.2:1 with all bagasse used 1.5 to 1.8:1.
In
Brazil, with lower energy inputs and similar yields (ca 54 MT/ha) the
ratio is 2.4:1 (21.3 x 106 kcal/ha/yr). A net yield of 53 tons/ha in
Louisiana allows for ca 3,500 liters of anhydrous alcohol, 13,250 kg
bagasse, and 32,000 kg steam (12,500 more than required for
distillation). In Louisiana, sugar yields of nearly 5 MT ha are
energetically equivalent to ca 17,500,000 kcal. These results from
kcal/ha inputs of nearly 10,000,000, the ratio of output/input = 1.81.
Slightly over 3,000,000 go for diesel, nearly 2 million for N, ca
1,300,000 for machinery, 800,000 for seed, 600,000 for herbicides,
550,000 for gasoline, 350,000 for lime, 300,000 for P, 250,000 for K,
200,000 for insecticides, and 150,000 for transportation (Ricaud,
1980). This relatively low ratio of energy output/input should make us
scrutinize more carefully Gaydou et al's (1982) calculations showing
the perennial oil palm producing nearly twice as much energy per
hectare as sugarcane.
Biotic Factors
Sugarcane is
susceptible to the following viruses: cucumber mosaic, maize leaf
fleck, sugarcane mosaic, tulip breaking, wheat streak mosaic, chlorotic
streak, and sereh. These fungi have been reported from sugarcane:
Allantospora
radicicola, Alternaria sp., Apiospora camtospora,
Arthrobotrys suberba, Aspergillus sp., A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A.
herbariorum, A. nidulans, A. niger, A. penicillioides, A. repens, A.
sydowii, A. terreus, a form of A. flavus
designated as A.
parasiticus
on mealybugs infesting cane, Asterostroma
cervicolor, Ceratostomella
adiposum, C. paradoxa, Cercospora koepkei, C. vaginae, Chytridium sp.,
Cladosporium
herbarum, Clathrus columnatus, Colletotrichum falcatum, C.
graminicola, C. lineola, Corticium sasakii, Curvularia
sp., Cytospora
sacchari, Endoconidiophora adiposa, E. paradoxa, Eriosphaeria sacchari,
Fusarium spp., Gibberella
fujikuroi, Gloeocercospora sorghi, Gnomonia
iliau, Graphium sacchari, Helminthosporium sacchari, H. stenospilum,
Himantia stellifera, Hormiactella sacchari, Hypocrea gelatinosa,
Ithyphallus rubicundis, Leptosphaeria sacchari, Ligniera vascularum,
Lophodermium sacchari, Macrophoma sacchari, Marasmius sacchari, M.
stenophyllus, Melanconium sacchari, Microdiplodia melaspora,
Mycosphaerella sacchari, M. striatiformans, Myriogenospora
aciculisporae, Nectria spp., Neurospora sitophila, Nigrospora
oryzae,
Odontia saccharicola, Olpidium sacchari, Papularia sphaerosperma, P.
vinosa, Periconia sacchari, Phyllosticta sorghina, Physalospora
rhodina, P. tucumanensis, Phytophthora erythroseptica, Plectospira
gemmifera, Polyporus spp., P. occidentalis, P. sanguineus,
P.
tulipiferus, Poria ambigua, Psilocybe atomatoides, Pythium spp.,
P.
arrhenomanes, P. graminicola, P. aphanidermatum, P. artotrogus, P.
debaryanum, P. dissotocum, P. helicoides, P. irregulare, P. mamillatum,
P. monospermum, P. periilum, P. rostratum, P. splendens, P. ultimum, P.
vexans, Rhizoctonia ferruginea, R. pallida, R. solani, Rosellinia
paraguayensis, R. pulveracea, Saccharomyces zopfii, Schizophyllum
commune, Scirrhia 1ophodermioides, Sclerotium rolfsii, Trichoderma
lignorum, Tubercularia saccharicola, Vermicularia graminicola, Xylaria
apiculata, Nectria flavociliata, N. laurentiana.
The following
nematodes have been reported on sugarcane: Anguina spermophaga,
Helicotylenchus sp. Heterodera
spp., Hoplolaimus
sp., Meloidogyne
sp.,
Pratylenchus
spp., P. pratensis,
Rotylenchus spp., R.
similes,
Scutellonema spp., Trichodorus
christie, and Tylenchorhynchus
spp.
(Golden, p.c. 1984). Bacteria include: Bacillus megatherium, B.
mesentericus, Xanthomonas albilineans, X. rubrilineans, X.
rubrisubalbicans, and X.
vasculorum (Agriculture Handbook 165).
Chemical Analysis of Biomass Fuels
Analysing
62 kinds of biomass for heating value, Jenkins and Ebeling (1985)
reported a spread of 17.33 to 16.24 MJ/kg, compared to 13.76 for
weathered rice straw to 23.28 MJ/kg for prune pits. On a % DM basis,
the bagasse contained 73.78% volatiles, 11.27% ash, 14.95% fixed
carbon, 44.80% C, 5.35% H, 39.55% O, .038% N, 0.01% S, 0.12% Cl, and
undetermined residue.
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