Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) under saline stress: Growth, productivity, technological quality, and industrial yield

Water scarcity is one of the main factors that contribute to the reduction of productivity in crops, and irrigation with lower water quality is an option to minimize water stress. The objective of this work was to evaluate the growth, productivity, technological quality, and industrial yield of the plant sugarcane and the first ratoon irrigated with brackish water and leaching conditions and the productivity of the second ratoon under the rainfed regime. The research was carried out at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife-PE, in drainage lysimeters using a completely randomized design, in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme: five levels of irrigation water salinity (ECw: 0.5, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, and 8.0 dS m−1) obtained by adding NaCl and CaCl2 to the local distribution water (0.5 dS m−1) and conditions without leaching fraction (LF1 = 0) and with leaching fraction (LF2 = 0.17), corresponding to 100 % and 120 % of the crop evapotranspiration, with four replications. The growth, productivity, and technological quality were measured in the plant and first ratoon cane and the productivity of the second ratoon. The salinity of the irrigation water reduced the growth, productivity, technological quality, and industrial yield in the plant sugarcane and first ratoon; this effect is minimized by the leaching fraction of 0.17. The salinity of irrigation water from plant sugarcane and the first ratoon promoted a residual effect, negatively affecting the agronomic performance of the second ratoon.