Green Management of Sugarcane

It includes the large amount deposition of litter from/of plants on the soil after every harvest, which ranges from 10 to 20 mg of the dry matter per ha with the ratio of carbon to nitrogen to be close to 100. The whole process of sugarcane production is influenced by mulch formation. This includes management of fertilizer, yield, weed control, erosion of soil, and dynamics of soil organic matter. The effect of soil on the sugarcane straw has been analyzed with focus on the growth of root and its turnover (Leal 2007), dynamics of soil nitrogen (Ball-Coelho et al. 1993), temperature of soil and its water content (Dourado-Neto et al. 1999), erosion of soil (Sparovek and Schnug 2001), bulk density of the soil (Tominaga et al. 2002), soil aggregate stability (Graham et al. 2002), and carbon stocks of the soil (Cerri et al. 2011). For the improvement of overall balance of energy, there is an increase in the quantity of lignocellulosic material left on the ground that could be recovered partially and in turn used for energy purpose in the mills thus improving the overall energy balance. There is still required increased knowledge on the quantification of agricultural impacts, straw availability after the harvest, the rates at which the decomposition is occurring, amount spent over the collection, and, consequently, what amount should be left on the ground in order to optimize sugarcane sustainability in cultivation and processing. The primary focus of this chapter is the impact of soil on the straw, bagasse supplement, and the provision of economic and environmental benefits along with problems in the agricultural areas.