In many crop producing areas of the world there are reports of yield decline and loss of productive potential in soils. Little is known about the long term effects of sugarcane monocropping on changes in physical, chemical and biological properties of soils. The aim of this study was to quantify the physical and chemical condition of soils under sugarcane production in northern Kwazulu-Natal, a...

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the feasibility of growing energy sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) in three different metal mine tailings (Cu, Sn and Pb/Zn tailings) amended with uncontaminated soil at different mixing ratios. The results indicated that sugarcane was highly tolerant to tailing environments. Amendments of 20% soil to Sn tailings and 30% soil to Cu tailings could increase...

Red rod is an economically important disease of sugarcane caused by the fungus Colletotrichum falcatum. We used a simple sequence repeat (SSR)-based marker system to identify and analyze genetic relationships of red rot resistant and susceptible sugarcane cultivars grown in Pakistan. Twenty-one highly polymorphic SSR markers were used for DNA fingerprinting and genetic diversity analysis o...

A sugarcane Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) database has been established which has led to the identification of genes in different tissues. Gene identity alone, however, does not provide information about patterns of gene expression nor allow elucidation of gene function. As a first step towards functional genome analysis in sugarcane, expression profiles are being developed for a random selectio...

This observational pilot study was carried out at three sugarcane companies in Costa Rica. Its main objective was to determine the potential for heat stress conditions for workers in one sugarcane-growing region in Costa Rica during the maintenance (non-harvest) period.Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) variables were measured with a heat stress meter and threshold value limits and the Sweat Rat...

telenomus beneficiens is a common egg parasitoid of sugarcane top borer scirpophaga excerptalis; however, in winter time the incidence of the parasitoid on top borer eggs is extremely low. t. beneficiens adults were released at various time durations into sugarcane plots to evaluate the parasitic potentiality of the parasitoid against sugarcane top-borer. the egg parasitoid t. beneficiens of su...

The life cycle of print starts with paper choices – specifying environmentally preferable paper products can reduce the effect that printing has on the planet. Over the past two centuries, wood is the primary raw material in paper manufacturing. However, wood-based paper carries a significant “ecological shadow” of energy consumption, bleaching chemicals, and water used in its production. In it...

the conditions for the refinement of clarified sugarcane juice, including temperature (50o, 60o and 70oc) and pressure (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 bars) by micro-filtration membrane technology were investigated. the raw sugarcane juice was initially pre-filtrated with lime and then the juice obtained (clarified juice) processed using a ceramic micro-filter mem-brane (0.2 micrometer). the characteristics...

ABSTRACT- Over the past 50 years, oil mulching has been a common technique for sand dune stabilization in the southwest of Iran (Khuzestan province). However, concerns over the release of heavy metals from oil mulching have led to the search for alternative mulches that are capable of stabilizing sand dunes without environmental hazards. This study investigates the feasibility of using sugarcan...