Completed projects and reports

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Sugar Research Australia, Sugar Research Development Corporation and BSES reports from completed research projects and papers.

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Investigating losses from green and burnt cane harvesting conditions : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper
(ASSCT, 2020) Patane, P; Landers, G; Thompson, M; Nothard, B; Norris, CA; Olayemi, M
Despite much research into the impact of high harvester pour rates and fan speeds on harvested cane yields, there has been low adoption of HBP (harvesting best practice) across the industry. Full adoption across the Australian sugarcane industry could increase industry revenue with no necessity for horizontal expansion (increase in cane land). In order to inform industry of the potential for significant gains, 95 replicated harvesting trials and workshops were undertaken during 2017 and 2018 across 12 sugarcane regions in Queensland and New South Wales. The performance of settings recommended by HBP was compared with each harvesting operation’s standard practice by assessing yield, CCS, bin mass, extraneous matter (EM), fibre, sugar loss and revenue. To highlight the strong relationship between cane loss and excessive pour rates and fan speeds, treatments with higher pour rates and fan speeds and lower pour rates and fan speeds were also trialled. Cane loss, production and revenue data from the fully replicated and randomised trials were analysed to identify differences between industry standard harvesting practices and those recommended by HBP. Harvesters typically operate at ground and fan speeds at on average of 0.9 km/h and 95 rpm above those recommended under HBP parameters. The higher ground speed overloads the cleaning capacity of the harvester in delivering an average 21 t/h more cane though the machine. Consequently, fan speeds are increased to remove the additional EM (extraneous matter) entering the machine, which then removes additional cane via the extractor. This cane often disintegrated in the process, making much invisible. Trials indicated the average sugar loss out of the extractor increased by 0.15 t/ha over the HBP settings. However, there was no significant improvement in EM or bin mass. As a result of cane loss though the extractor, less cane per hectare was delivered to the mill. Mill analyses across the trials identified cane and sugar yields for the recommended practice were 4.9 t/ha (cane yield) and 0.7 t/ha (sugar yield) higher than standard practice. Neither CCS nor fibre levels were significantly different. Increased cane and sugar yields generated by the recommended practice translated to an increase in grower gross revenue of $181/ha., but reduced ground speeds increased the cost of harvesting by $61/ha. Subtracting the additional harvesting costs and levies from the additional grower revenue leaves a net benefit of $116/ha for the grower. Preliminary results of “good” burn trials indicate an improvement of $207/ha in grower gross revenue with lower fuel. Based on the green-cane results, full adoption of HBP could improve annual industry revenue by $44 million for growers at an additional cost of $17 million for harvesting (excluding incentives). Milling revenue would also improve by $25 million per year but this does not account for additional milling or transport costs.
Overcoming constraints to high yield and CCS in large and lodged cane crops
(2001) Chapman, SC; Jackson, PA; Lawn, RJ
Past research indicates that large sugarcane crops (that usually also happen to be lodged) experience a slowdown in growth during winter, well before harvest (Muchow et al. 1996). The project examined factors affecting the growth of crops in both the dry (irrigated) and wet tropics and aimed to interpret and explain the effects of the identified factors on net growth and death processes as well as on the stalk and sucker dynamics, cane yield and CCS. Treatments included installation of bamboo scaffolding to prevent crop lodging, and a late ratooning of the crop so that a physiologically young crop would be growing into the winter ripening period. Experiments were conducted over two seasons (1997-1998 & 1998-1999) in commercial fields in areas where large crops may experience substantial lodging under different environmental conditions (Burdekin and Tully). Four or five sequential harvests were taken to determine if and when growth slowdown occurred and to separate the effects of crop age, season and lodging. By installing scaffolding to prevent lodging, we eliminated the growth ‘slowdown’ in three experiments to confirm that lodging and stalk death is part of the explanation. In both the wet and dry (irrigated) tropics, lodging of sugarcane significantly decreased both cane yield and fresh commercial cane sugar content (CCS). Prevention of lodging increased fresh cane yield by 11 - 15 %, CCS by 3 - 12 % and sugar yield by 15 - 35 % at the final harvest in August/September. The rate of increase in CCS in lodged cane was reduced following lodging, although CCS recovered by harvest to be similar to that of erect cane. While death of stalks was confirmed as a major component of the effect of lodging there was also a reduced weight and sugar content of live stalks. Dead and rat damaged stalks had CCS levels that were regularly less than 50% of sound live stalks. In the dry tropics, where cane is irrigated and grows under high radiation, sugar yield was 40 t/ha with scaffolding installed. The increased yield (compared to 35 t/ha in lodged cane) was due to both the survival of an extra 0.8 stalks/m2 and increased accumulation of sugar in live stalks. These experimental results have been published in two conference papers and in an upcoming issue of the Australian Journal of Agricultural Research (early 2003).
An on-line cane monitoring system to measure the extraneous matter present in billet sugar cane : final report CSU001
(Charles Sturt University, Sugar Research Institute, 2000) Moore, WE
Extraneous matter (EM) in cane billets consists of two major types of material; dirt and trash. Dirt consists of primarily inorganic, rock derived material, while trash consists of primarily organic, non-productive sugar cane derived material such as leaves, tops, and root balls, Trash can also contain other non sugar cane derived organic matter such as weeds and other items included during the harvesting process.
Quantification of the potential to reduce harvesting losses by utilisation of field edge trash separation technology
(2013)
NorrisECT conducted a series of SRDC supported trials into the potential to improve industry profitability through the use of post-harvest cleaning at sites in the New South Wales Sugar Milling Cooperative and Isis Mill cane catchments during the 2012 crushing season. The aim of the trials was to determine the potential to improve profitability by circumventing the existing compromise between high fibre levels in milled cane, and high cane loss during harvesting under commercial harvesting conditions. This was achieved through utilising ‘low loss’ harvesting to reduce the cane lost through the harvester cleaning system then a mobile cane cleaning plant to clean the cane before transport to the mill. The impact on tonnes of cane and CCS recovered per hectare, and the transport bulk density were measured. The trials investigated the impact on recovered cane yields and CCS across three treatments, including ‘commercial’ harvesting practices (moderate to high extractor fan speed), ‘low loss’ harvesting practices (low extractor fan speeds, reduced ground speed), and ‘low loss’ harvesting with post-harvest cleaning (using a NorrisECT mobile cane cleaning plant). Total biomass yield (tonnes per hectare), cane yield (tonnes per hectare), load density (kg per m3) were measured in the field, and the respective mills provided corresponding information on Pol, Brix, Ash, Fibre and CCS measurement (NIR). Trial results showed significant increase in biomass and delivered CCS yields per hectare resulting from ‘low loss’ harvesting practices, and a further increase in delivered CCS per hectare (through significant reduction in EM and fibre levels) attributable to post-harvest cleaning. Post-harvest cleaning treatments also demonstrated significantly higher transport load densities. The actual impact on harvesting costs were estimated based on the change in harvester productivity (hectares per hour) and haul out requirement (m3 of biomass per hectare) and benchmarked against a large harvesting dataset. Actual sugar recovery was estimated based upon both CCS determinations and earlier Australian and American work on the effect of extraneous matter and fibre on sugar recovery. The trials have demonstrated that there is potential to significantly increase the industry profitability with post-harvest cane cleaning based on the significant increase in potential sugar production per hectare of land, significant improvement in transport load density and significant reduction in fibre levels in cane milled. It is recommended that further work be undertaken to better quantify the actual impact NET001 Interim Report iii on harvesting and transport costs under commercial conditions, and to better quantify the impact on mill performance and costs, and sugar recovery through reduced fibre and extraneous matter levels.
Understanding why potential field CCS is not realised at the factory : SRDC final report SD02005
(BSES, 2002) Berding, N
Declining ccs in the Mossman-Tully region has been linked to increasing extraneous matter in mill-supply cane. This was quantified by measuring the proportion and quality of crop fractions in pre-and post-harvest subsamples. These were taken from 54 sites in 1999 and 2000, dissected into basic crop components, quantified, and analysed for five quality components. In March-July 2000, 14 sites with crops showing pre-harvest-season stalk-habit variation - erect versus lodged - were sampled three times. Pre-harvest habit had a marked effect on crop ccs. Lodged, unsound cane had a mean ccs 25% less than erect, sound cane. Relatively, average mill ccs compared poorly with pre-harvest potential ccs (75.9 and 85.1% for 1999 and 2000, respectively) and post-harvest potential ccs (83 and 87%). Mill-realised ccs was marginally above the average, weighted, whole-crop, in-field ccs, in both years, almost equalled the post-harvest ccs in 1999, and was just below in 2000. In 1999, harvesting did not reduce the in-field extraneous matter content (18.9%). In 2000, the proportion changed from 18.9 to 13.1%. An erect crop maximises quality and must be addressed by crop improvement and agronomy activities. The results severely question the efficacy of current harvesting technology, or how this is being used.
The contribution of mechanical cane harvesting to the productivity plateau
(1992)
The invention of mechanical cane harvesters has been important in the development of the Australian sugar industry. Mechanisation of the harvest has brought many benefits. However associated with mechanical cane harvesting there are aspects which impact on crop productivity matters and hence on industry profitability. These issues are being addressed in BSES research and extension programs.

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