Sugarcane Flood Tolerance: Current Limits and Future Prospects
Sugarcane flood tolerance is discussed in this presentation. Related issues are looked at from four perspectives – various limits, physiological and morphological changes, future gains speculations and possible ecological and hydrological applications. Sugarcane flood tolerance and yield changes are presented on several field experiments during the crop various growth phases – (1) after planting with furrow open and with furrow closed, (2) during summer growth and (3) prior to harvest. It is documented that flood or shallow water-table depth do not affect photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration. It is also documented that roots of all 40 sugarcane genotypes tested in Florida had aerenchyma, while stalks form aerenchyma after being flooded. However, only some genotypes form aerenchyma in stalks without exposure to flood; this provides extra flood tolerance. While it is still a theory, it seems that sugarcane root growth is decreased when roots must grow into water. However, sugarcane roots appear to meet the needs of the plant when flooded for up to 2 weeks. It is concluded that most commercial sugarcane cultivars in Florida can tolerate floods for 1 to 2 weeks and that sugarcane has physiological and morphological traits that allow it to respond well to short-duration floods, while continuous shallow water tables are more harmful to sugarcane than periodic flooding. Given these facts, new strategy of storing water on sugarcane fields is proposed - field A could be flooded for 1-2 weeks, then drained to the field B which would be flooded for 1-2 weeks, then drained to the field C, etc. Research should focus on extending this flood period duration, so new strategies for ecological and hydrological application could be pursued further.
- Research Organization:
- Hendry County, Florida
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
- Contributing Organization:
- Hendry County, Florida
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0000303
- OSTI ID:
- 1338819
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-HENDRYFLA-00303-417
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Time: 01/08/2010 Author: Barry Glaz and Robert A. Gilbert Title: Sugarcane Flood Tolerance: Current Limits and Future Prospects Location: Everglades Coalition, 25th Annual Conference: 2010-Palm Beach Gardens, Jan 7-10, 2010; Related Information: http://www.intelligentsia-international.org/DOE2012
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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