Productivity, water use efficiency, and technological quality of sugarcane subjected to differents water regimes

Abstract

The  objective  of  this  work  was  to  assess stalk  and sugar  yield,  water  use  efficiency,  and technological attributes of five early maturing and six medium to late maturing sugarcane varieties with no irrigation (1,141.4 mm) and under full irrigation (1,396.6 mm). A randomized complete block design, with four replicates, was used. Stalk yield for varieties RB92579, RB72454, and SP81-3250 showed gains above 180% with irrigation. Irrigation increased sugar yield in more than 200% in the RB92579 and RB943365 varieties. Full irrigation provided greater water use efficiency, producing, in average, 70.2 kg ha^-1 mm^-1 more stalks than under no irrigation. Except for the varieties RB72454, RB763710, and RB943365, there were no differences regarding technological attributes between full irrigation and no irrigation. The medium to late maturing varieties RB92579 and SP81‑3250 have higher stalk and sugar yield and better water use efficiency, and are recommended for studies on sugarcane response to irrigation.