Increasing Profitability with Ripeners and
Specialized Adjuvants.
YosoY
Sugar Products Company
Presented at the September 1997
This investigation discusses the results of specialized spray adjuvants
when used with sugarcane ripeners. Sugarcane ripeners are known to increase
sugar content per biomass ton. Specialized adjuvants were evaluated for
additional sugar content increases when mixed directly with sugarcane ripeners.
Fusilade (0.4 liter/hectare) and glyphosate (1 liter/hectare) were used as
sugarcane ripeners. Mas Azúcar, a specialized adjuvant for sugarcane ripeners,
was applied with the ripeners on half of the twenty-one (21) ripened tracts.
Mas Azúcar was applied at 0.1 liter/hectare with fusilade and 0.50
liter/hectare with glyphosate.
All tracts were treated during the week of
The ripeners and specialized spray adjuvants were sprayed on the
sugarcane tracts 28 to 42 days prior to harvest. Each ripened sugarcane tract
had a control tracts of the same variety, age, and management practices. The
control tracts received no ripeners or specialized adjuvants. All ripener and
control tract were on the outside of all treatments. The specialized adjuvant,
Mas Azúcar, was always on the inner area of the treatment.
A minimum of five (5) sugarcane stalks were sampled weekly from all
tracts. All samples were analyzed by the Jamaican Sugar Industry Research
Institute (SIRI). All sugarcane was sampled for Brix,
Pol, Purity,
Cane Pol, Fibre, JRCS and TCTS (Tons Cane/Tons Sugar). Each tract was analyzed
for sugar value with the harvest day TCTS ratio. Final sugar value was
calculated in
The Worthy-Park trials used three different tracts. These were the Spring
Piece 3 (SP 3), Back
Both the SP 3 control and glyphosate-only tract yielded 53.17
tonnes/hectare, 23.72 tons/acre, and 6121.81 pounds of sugar, valued at
$612.18/acre. The SP 3 glyphosate/Mas Azúcar tract yielded 53.17 tonnes/hectare,
23.72 tons/acre, and 5900.99 pounds of sugar, valued at $590.10/acre. This
tract demonstrated a decreased profitability of the specialized adjuvant when
compared to the ripener and control tracts. The control tract demonstrated
better ripening in this tract and was only five rows wide on the outside of the
trial area.
The SP 3 fusilade-only tract
yielded 53.17 tonnes/hectare, 23.72 tons/acre, and 5608.04 pounds of sugar,
valued at $560.80/acre. The SP 3 fusilade/Mas Azúcar tract yielded 53.17
tonnes/hectare, 23.72 tons/acre, and 5813.73 pounds of sugar, valued at
$581.37/acre. The fusilade/Mas Azúcar treatment increased profitability by
$20.57 per acre compared to the ripener.
The BS 2 control tract yielded 72.92 tonnes/hectare, 32.53 tons/acre, and
7213.64 pounds of sugar, valued at $721.36/acre. The BS 2 fusilade-only tract
yielded 72.92 tonnes/hectare, 32.53 tons/acre, and 7189.73 pounds of sugar,
valued at $718.97/acre. The control tract demonstrated better ripening than the
ripener-only in this tract and was on the outside of the trial area.
The Figtree control tract
yielded 49.21 tonnes/hectare, 21.96 tons/acre, and 5434.46 pounds of sugar,
valued at $543.45/acre. The Figtree glyphosate-only tract yielded 49.21
tonnes/hectare, 21.96 tons/acre, and 6798.76 pounds of sugar, valued at
$679.88/acre. The Figtree glyphosate-only tract had a value of $136.43 more
than the control tract.
The Bernard Lodge trial was divided between the control, glyphosate-only
and glyphosate/Mas Azúcar treatments. The tracts were harvested in June of
1997. The 28 DAT data for Brix is 19.78, 19.90, and 21.58
for the control, glyphosate-only, and glyphosate/Mas Azúcar tracts
respectively. The 28 DAT data for Pol is
18.01, 18.06, and 19.80 for the control, glyphosate-only, and glyphosate/Mas
Azúcar tracts respectively. The 28 DAT data for Purity is 91.05, 90.75,
and 91.75 for the control, glyphosate-only, and glyphosate/Mas Azúcar tracts
respectively. The final TC/TS ratio
was 9.81, 9.48 and 8.99 for the control, glyphosate-only, and glyphosate/Mas
Azúcar tracts respectively.
The glyphosate-only tract decreased the TC/TS ratio by 0.33 compared to
the control. The glyphosate/Mas Azúcar treatment decreased the TC/TS further.
The glyphosate/Mas Azúcar treatment reduced the TC/TS by an additional 0.49
units when compared to the glyphosate-only data. Actual tonnage per acre is
forthcoming. No financial data could be calculated.
The Tropicana Sugarcane Estate trials involved twelve (12) tracts and
seven (7) varieties. The acreage was divided between the control,
glyphosate-only and glyphosate/Mas Azúcar treatments. DAT 0, 15, and 28 data
for Brix, Pol, and Purity are available. The tracts were harvested in July of
1997. Final harvest data is forthcoming. The DAT 28 values for the
glyphosate-only and glyphosate/Mas Azúcar Brix, Pol, and Purity were equal to
or greater than the Worthy-Park Figtree sugarcane values. These values
correlated to a TCTS of 7.75 and 6.43, glyphosate-only and glyphosate/Mas
Azúcar respectively.
These trials demonstrated sugarcane ripeners increased sugar content per
biomass ton. Furthermore, the use of Mas Azúcar, a specialized proprietary
adjuvant, increased the sugar value by an additional $20.57 to $160.40 per acre
when compared to sugarcane ripeners. Use of sugarcane ripeners and the
specialized spray adjuvant Mas Azúcar increased sugarcane profitability.
YOSOY AZÚCAR PRODUCTOS COMPAÑÍA
830-964-2252 Office
830-964-2262 Fax
P.O. Box 1509