Post-harvest deterioration in sugarcane.
Magadum, D. N.; Kadam, S. K.;
Bharatiya Sugar Year: 1996 Vol: 22 Issue: 4 Pages: 45, 47, 49-52 Ref: 12 ref.
1996
บทคัดย่อ
While cane growers in India are paid on the basis of crop weight, in some countries the payments are made on the basis of estimated recoverable sugar. Prevention of postharvest deterioration is then of prime importance for growers as well as sugar factories. The most important factor decreasing sugar recovery is staling of cane during the delay between harvesting and milling. During staling, sugarcane undergoes many physical and chemical changes, the most important being (physical) weight loss due to evaporation of water and (chemical) sugar loss via inversion. While various hydrolytic enzymes (amylase, fructose 1,6-diphosphatase, cellulase, and neutral and acid invertases) have been observed in harvested cane stalks, sugar losses in harvested cane stalks are attributed to the invertase activity, which varies with cane age, storage time, temperature, humidity, etc. At Kolhapur in 1981, an investigation was carried out to assess the extent of postharvest deterioration of sugarcane and to control
its progress by adopting different storage techniques and chemical treatments. Postharvest deterioration of sugarcane was found to be related to the delay between harvesting and milling; during the 2nd day, the weight loss of untreated cane increased from 1.97 to 11.28%. Among 7 storage techniques adopted, covering with trash sprayed daily with water led to the least biodeterioration, decreasing the daily losses (averaged over 14 days) in cane weight, sucrose % juice and sugar recovery from 2.69%, 1.91% and 2.13% to 1.73%, 1.15% and 0.99%, respectively; it also depressed the activity of acid invertase and hence the sucrose inversion rate. Accumulation of reducing sugars was in accordance with sucrose loss. Chemical treatments (with benzoic acid, maleic hydrazide, sodium metasilicate or Cycocel) had negligible effect on postharvest deterioration of sugarcane. It is concluded that cane should be milled within a day of harvest; if delay is unavoidable, the cane should be covered with trash (preferably wetted).
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