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Lecture 21
Sugarcane

Saccharum officinarum; Poaceae (Gramineae); Tribe Andropogoneae

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Honey

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Hunter of bees, Arana, Spain 7000 BCE

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Bee in Ancient Egypt

Sweet Sap from Sugar Palm & Maple

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Collection of sap from sugar palm

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Collection of sap from sugar maple and evaporation in North America

Sugar (sucrose) from sugarcane is the cheapest energy food.

Sugarcane is the most important source of sugar followed by sugar beet.

Generally sugarcane is a crop of the humid tropical lowlands, but does best in wet and dry tropics.

Some still grown in Southern Europe and United States (Hawaii, Louisiana, Florida).

Hawaii is now going out of the sugar business.

Per capita consumption is very high in the United States, Europe, and English speaking countries in general.

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Ancient Sugar Mill, Hawaii Sugar planters Research Institute

History

  • Sugarcane cultivated in India in 400 BCE.
  • The art of sugarcane cultivation was carried from Indian to China as well as to Arabia and to Europe during the Crusades.
  • Southern Europe provided the world market during the Middle Ages.
  • Sugarcane introduced to Madeira and Azores in 1420.
  • Columbus took sugar to the New World in 1493.
  • In 1791 Capt. Bligh (Mutiny on the Bounty fame) transported varieties of S. officinarum from Tahiti to Jamaica; previous cultivation was the thin stalked S. sinsense and S. barberi native to Bay of Bengal.
  • S. officinarum is probably native to the South Pacific (New Guinea) and is very tall; known as noble canes. (There is no sugar industry there but canes are grown for chewing.)
  • The thick-stemmed types were successful in all sugar growing areas.
  • However, with outbreaks of diseases and pests, breeding programs were developed and the pedigrees of modern cultivars are now very complex.
  • 19th Century: Rise of beet sugar
  • 20th Century: Corn sweeteners, synthetic sweeteners

    • Sugar Cane
    World Production 1000 MT Chief countries
    World 1,254,857  
    Africa 87,504 South Africa (23,896), Egypt (15,620), Mauritius (5,500)
    North America 164,056 Mexico (49,500), Cuba (35,000), US (31,571)
    South America 421,303 Brazil (339,136), Colombia (33,400), Argentina (15,000)
    Asia 547,001 India (286,000), China (79,700), Thailand (49,070)
    Europe 84 Spain (80), Portugal (4)
    Oceania 34,909 Australia (31,039), Fuji (3,500), Papua New Guinea (367)

    Sugar Beets
    World Production 1000MT Chief countries
    World 234,245  
    Africa 87,504 South Africa (23,896), Egypt (15,620), Mauritius (5,500)
    North America 24,185 US (23,364), Canada (821)
    South America 3,172 Chile (3,169), Ecuador (3)
    Asia 36,187 Turkey (14,500), China (10,900), Iran (4,300)
    Europe 164,665 France (26,715), Germany (24,398), Ukraine (15,489)

    Botany

    Saccharum species

  • S. officinarum (2n=80): Thick-stemmed ("noble") canes from New Guinea
  • S. sinense (2n=118): Thin-stemmed hardy canes from China
  • S. barberi (2n=variable): Thin-stemmed hardy canes from India
  • S. spontanium: Wild canes of SE Asia; important in breeding
  • S. robustrum: Deeply penetrating roots, disease and drought resistant

    • Morphology of Setts

    Bud, Secondary shoot, Leaf scar, Root primordia

    Breeding

  • Crosses made by cutting inflorescence and placing shoot in water or dilute nutrient solution; seeds will set and mature on these cut shoots.
  • Breeding has been very important in increasing yields; especially Nobilization, the incorporation of S. officinarum.
  • In Java, yields per hectare were 1t in 1840, 10 t in 1910, 20 t in 1940 and 32 t in l952.
  • Yields of cane and sugar content continues to increase.

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    Meteorological Institute, Hawaii Sugar planters Research Institute

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    Sugar Seedlings, Hawaii Sugar planters Research Institute

    Culture

  • Usually planted as a perennial crop but can also be grown as an annual.
  • Asexually propagated by stem cuttings (setts) planted in furrows.
  • Rows are 3 to 8 feet wide.
  • Flowering can be prevented with diquat.
  • Planted in wet seasons, harvested in dry season.

    • Harvest

  • Harvested when sugar content is as at a maximum.
  • Needs a dry period to arrest growth to accumulate sugar.
  • Flowering is not necessarily a sign of maximum sugar content.
  • Once harvested it needs to be processed within 48 hours.
  • In many countries two year old fields are cut but generally the cycle is 12-18 months.
  • Harvest is traditionally by hand cutting (removing top and trash with a machete) but now is often machine harvested (Hawaii).
  • Burning may be carried out to remove trash but this must be carefully done to avoid uncontrolled fires.

    • Sugar Manufacture

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    Extraction of sugar in Sicily, 1584

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    Production of sugar in Venice

    Manufacture of Cane Sugar

  • Extract juice by crushing
  • Water added
  • Re-crush
  • Bagasse, canes after crushing, can be used as fuel
  • Raw juice (sugars +nonsugars (dissolved solids) + water
  • Heated + lime (causes separation of insolubles), settled in clarifyers
  • Successive boiling to concentrate. (Produces a dark hygroscopic material called gur in Indian, jaggery in Africa, panela in Latin America, rapadura in Brazil)
  • Filter (vacuum pan centrifuged to crystallize sugar)
  • Decolorized with carbon black
  • Drying, screening
  • Residue = "molasses"
  • 35% sucrose
  • 15% reducing sugars (glucose and fructose)
  • Distilled to produce rum (colorless), alcoholic spirit

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    Loading Sugarcane, Fodder on Donkey, Nerja, Spain, 1972

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    Sugarcane, Nerja, Spain, 1972

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    Field of Sugarcane, Sao Paulo, 1965

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    Sugarcane harvest, Puerto Rico, 1972

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    Mechanical loading of Sugarcane, Puerto Rico, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar Mill, Ponte Nova, Brazil, 1963

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    Sugar refinery, Ewa plantation, Hawaii

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    Loading sugarcane, Maui, Hawaii

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    Sugar refinery, Ewa plantation, Hawaii

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