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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Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
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    How will climate change impact climate variability in sugarcane growing regions? : SRDC Final report JCU032
    (SRDC, 2012) Everingham, Y
    Sugarcane is the fastest growing, largest biomass and highest sucrose accumulated agricultural crop today that offers a valuable contribution to delivering a sustainable future (Skocaj, 2013). Aside from cereal crops, sugarcane is the largest contributor of carbohydrates for human consumption and the conversion of sugarcane to raw sugar produces a wide variety of important by-products such as bioenergy, biofuels, bioplastics, paper, animal feed and synthetic fertilizers. Climate is a key driver of sugarcane production and its by-products. Given the significant contribution sugarcane production systems make to economic growth and development, especially in poor countries where sugarcane contributes to the economy, it is critical to understand how this production system will be impacted by climate change.
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    Pathways to exploiting enhanced photosynthetic efficiency for higher sucrose and biomass yield
    (2011) Inman-Bamber, NG
    Australia has one of the highest commercial cane sugar (CCS) levels in the world but unfortunately CCS appears to have plateaud at about 14% of fresh cane weight over the past 20 years. Up to now in breeding programs, increased fibre has been considered to have negative economic impacts because of adverse effects on sugar extraction and milling rate. It is possible that high fibre genotypes can produce higher biomass yields than high sucrose types because high sucrose content in the stalk may feedback negatively on photosynthesis either through end-product suppression or through sugar signalling compounds. This is now an assumption which is gaining acceptance through recent publications. Prior to this project this assumption had not been tested using high fibre and high sucrose clones. Feedback inhibition is also suspected to be the cause of the ‘reduced growth phenomenon’, a term applied to lower than expected biomass accumulation after a certain stage in crop development. This project aimed to establish the role of cane stalk sucrose in feedback inhibition of photosynthesis in order to reveal existing limitations to increasing sucrose content and biomass yield.
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    SRDC Research Project final report Increased CCS, cane yield and water use efficiency by exploiting interactions between genetics and management
    (2009) Inman-Bamber, NG
    In October 2003 delegates at an international workshop on sugarcane physiology funded by SRDC concluded that priority should be directed at a better understanding of traits responsible for high yield and high sucrose content, in order to better design future genotypes. While pathways of sucrose accumulation were and are being investigated at the molecular and cellular levels, there was no concurrent work at the crop level. Consequently it is difficult to answer the questions- To what extent will genetic improvements be modified by management and the environment? and conversely, To what extent does management and environment influence the selection of varieties? These and other questions about the genotype x environment (GxE) interaction on sucrose accumulation and lodging were the major concerns of this project with sucrose accumulation as the predominant issue. This project forms part of a large effort now underway worldwide to find alternative methods to develop cultivars with improved sugar content. The main objective was to better understand the interactions between sugarcane genetics and the environment (including management) with respect to sugar accumulation. After four years of intensive work the project has delivered extensive new knowledge on the physiology of interactions between sugarcane genetics and the environment with respect to sugar accumulation and lodging and as such has met the main objective of the research.
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    Improving profitability of the Maryborough Sugar Industry by assessing the options for cane supply and season length : SRDC Final report MSF001
    (SRDC, 2002) Higgins, AJ; Downs, P; Sestak, F; Peatey, G; Haynes, MA; Muchow, RC
    Increasing cost/price pressure has forced the Australian sugar industry to seek innovative avenues for increasing profitability. To address this, the industry saw opportunities for increasing productivity and hence profitability through optimising the harvest date of sugarcane to account for geographical and crop differences in cane yield and the sugar content of cane. Whole-of-system research within CRC-Sugar produced the statistical and optimisation models needed to conduct options analysis for these alternative cane supply arrangements using case studies in Mackay and Mossman. The tools developed in CRC-Sugar were used to develop alternative cane supply options in partnership with the Maryborough sugar region. Through exploiting the geographical differences in CCS and cane yield at harvest date, average gains in profitability were $77/ha (sugar price $350/t) versus current equity arrangements. Farms that were found to be significantly early or late maturing, had higher potential gains. Pilot implementation of alternative cane supplies took place during the 2001 harvest season and involved the Maryborough Sugar Factory, where a significant gain in CCS was achieved. Seven other farms benefited from the optimisation work. The Maryborough region will continue to adopt alternative cane supplies in 2002 with a likely increased uptake of the optimisation strategy.
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    Integrating and optimising farm-to-mill decisions to maximise industry profitability : SRDC Final report CSE005
    (2006) Higgins, A; Prestwidge, D; Sandell, G; Antony, G; Laredo, L; Thorburn, P
    Late in the 1990’s, the Australian sugar industry recognised the need to achieve increased integration across its value chain, so as to reduce costs and increase international competitiveness. Past projects and independent assessments highlighted the harvesting and transport interface as being a high priority due to its current logistical inefficiencies and large potential economic benefits from removing these. The logistical inefficiencies were partly manifested by the social and ownership differences between these sectors. CSE005 aimed to explore and implement multiple opportunities to achieve economic benefits at the harvesting and transport interface of the value chain, using a combined participatory action research and technical modelling approach. The project used case studies, initially being the Mourilyan, Mossman and Plane Creek regions. Each case study had a local industry working group, to drive the process of building models, validation, and developing pathways to adoption. Mourilyan was the basis for the model development due to the broad range of opportunities that the region was to explore and due to its technical capacity to work closely with the research team. This research team was multi-disciplinary across CSIRO, BSES and Harvesting Solutions due to the broad range of modelling expertise required in harvesting and transport. One of the first steps with the Mourilyan case study was to conceptualise the value chain in harvesting and transport, which defined the key linkages and drivers across these sectors. This was the basis for formulating a modelling framework which defined the interactions between the industry component models, some of which already existed within the industry. A modelling framework approach was better than building a super-model since it was more transparent to the local industry working groups, more robust and had greater industry ownership. Throughout the life of the Mourilyan case study, the modelling work underwent many revisions (over a one-year timeframe) through the participatory action research process. During this process, the case study regions developed and refined options (or scenarios) for the models. This provided the case study working group with a growing understanding of best-bet options for the local region and the benefits across the participants of the chain. Opportunities identified across the case study regions collectively fell into the themes of: increased time window of harvest through staggering the start times of harvesters; harvest best practice; improved seasonal logistics; transition to larger harvesting groups; and rationalisation/upgrading of transport infrastructure. Their collective potential benefits from these options was in excess of $2.00/tc for some case studies. The increased time window of harvest option was adopted immediately in the Mourilyan and Mossman regions due to minimal change management and no capital investment requirements, and continued to be implemented throughout the life and beyond CSE005. Harvest best practice started to be piloted in Mourilyan as a result of CSE005, though its adoption was often hampered by pressure to fill bins and disruptions. Whilst the Mourilyan and Mossman regions agreed the time window of harvest options were beneficial, an evaluation based on factual data was impossible due major changes in the base line evaluation (e.g. changed number of harvesting groups, tonnes crushed at each mill) from 2002 to 2005. About mid-way through CSE005, the Mourilyan and Plane Creek case studies ended pre-maturely due to reasons beyond the control of the project team. Whilst this was a disappointment for the project team and for many of the participants in the local industry working groups, the Herbert quickly became a replacement case study.
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    Integrated value chain scenarios for enhanced mill region profitability
    (2005) Thorburn, PJ; Archer, AA; Hobson, PA; Higgins, AJ; Sandel, GR; Prestwidge, DB; Andrew, B; Antony, G; McDonald, LJ; Downs, P; Juffs, R
    The Australian sugar industry has recently faced an unprecedented cost-price ‘squeeze’ from a run of poor seasons and the collapse of the sugar price. As a result there is impetus to consider diversifying products from the raw sugar production value chain. The chain is complex however, and alternative products will necessitate substantial changes to the chain, the impacts of which will be difficult to predict a priori. Modelling offers insights into the impacts of, and benefits from changes to value chains. Analyses of the chain should, ideally, be conducted in enough biophysical detail to allow the logistical challenges to be properly analysed. The application of these modelling techniques in a participatory environment would allow groups within mill regions to more thoroughly evaluate diversification options of their sugar value chains in their region, and so move forward with more confidence and greater understanding than occurs with other approaches. While participatory modelling has previously been undertaken for issues in one or two sectors of the Australian sugar value chain, it has not been attempted for the whole of the chain before. In this project we aimed to facilitate the improved economic efficiency of the sugar industry value chain through developing and participatively applying an innovative modelling capability that allowed industry groups to identify and evaluate sugar value chain diversification options. The project was conducted in partnership with all sectors of the Burdekin and Maryborough industries. The first phase of the project entailed working with the regional groups to identify and prioritise potential diversification options for their region. In both regions whole crop harvesting to maximise electricity co-generation was identified as the highest priority venture for consideration in the project. In the Burdekin, two contrasting mill regions (Invicta and Pioneer) were analysed to maximise the relevance of the results to the region.
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    Sugar Research and Development Corporation final report Project CTA013 Spatial analysis of the impact of land use on nutrient loads within the Herbert River Catchment
    (1998) Johnson, A; Walker, D; Wood, A
    This Project arose out of concerns for the apparent increase in nutrient and sediment contaminant loads in Queensland coastal waters since European settlement (e.g. DEAP Report, 1992). At the time of Project inception, the origins of this increase had yet to be defined and quantified, however, the sugarcane industry was considered to be a likely contributor because of the large (and increasing) areas of sugarcane involved and the relatively high fertiliser inputs per unit area. There was, therefore, a need to develop practical tools to integrate existing information and spatially model, at the catchment scale, nutrient and sediment losses from agricultural land. It was the Project teams’ intention to provide tools to analyse important issues/questions relating to the sustainable management of existing and potential sugarcane lands of the Herbert River catchment. In response, four core areas of R&D were undertaken. These were: 1. Data collection and integration; 2. Spatial analysis of the impacts of land use and management practices on water quality; 3. Tools for decision support; and 4. Building stakeholder capacity.
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    Best practice irrigation management to maximise profitability and ensure sustainability in the Ord sugar industry : SRDC Final report CSR22
    (2003) Wood, AW; Engelke, JM; Sherrard, JH; Plunkett, GM; Triglone, T; Bakker, DM; Horan, HL; Muchow, RC; Inman-Bamber, G
    The Ord Sugar industry was established in 1995 with the commissioning of a sugar mill and the first full season of commercial production was in 1996. It is now a major industry in Stage 1 of the Ord Irrigation Area, currently occupying over 4000 hectares and producing around 60,000 tonnes of raw sugar annually for export. The climatic conditions in the Ord impose a high water requirement for sugarcane crops. Growers face a considerable challenge in meeting that requirement whilst maximising their profitability and minimising drainage losses and potential impacts on the environment. Groundwater levels have risen substantially in the 30 years since the start of irrigation in the Ord. Consequently the development of appropriate irrigation practices for sugarcane is a key requirement in the management of rising water tables and in the sustainability of Ord sugarcane production. The first step in developing best practice irrigation management was to gain a better understanding of the range of irrigation practices being used by the industry at the beginning of the project. A survey conducted to benchmark irrigation practices used on the 1995/96 sugarcane crop indicated very high rates of annual water application, making the development of irrigation practices that maximise profitability and minimise groundwater accessions a key priority for the Ord sugar industry.
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    Chop-throw; a potential driver for the next generation of pneumatic cleaning systems : SRDC Final report BS52S
    (2000) Norris, CP
    The objective of this project was to determine if the chop-throw concept offered potential for high efficiency pneumatic cleaning systems, by virtue of the inherently high efflux velocities and billet presentation from the thrower mechanism.The project only investigated attributes of the ?chop-throw? concept, as related to potential enhancements to the cleaning of cane. Performance monitoring of the current design was not considered to be part of this project.