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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #69137
Title: INTERACTION OF SUCROSE AND CATIONS WITH JUICE OSMOLALITY IN SUGARCANE

Author
item IRVINE, JAMES - TX AGRIC. EXP. STATION
item Lingle, Sarah
item WIEDENFELD, ROBERT - TX AGRIC. EXP. STATION

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Physiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: On the mineral rich soils of the Rio Grande Valley, sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrid) cultivars show an inverse relation between the contents of sugar and mineral salts (ash) in the expressed juice. Ash in juice is undesirable since it interferes with sucrose extraction during processing. Measurements of juice sucrose, cations, and osmolality were made with juice samples from three cultivar trials sampled early and late in the harvest season, and repeated in two years. High sucrose cultivars had low juice cation content. Juice sucrose increased, and cations decreased between the early and late harvests. There was no significant difference in juice osmolality among cultivars. In other study, juice was extracted from stalks harvested from two crops grown at 4 water tables and 2 irrigation water conductivities. Stalks grown with high (8.50 mMhos) conductivity irrigation water had juice that was lower in sugar, higher in cations, but no different in osmolality when compared to stalks with low (1.34 mMhos) conductivity water. Juice potassium was more abundant in the low salt, low water table treatments, and sodium increased as the water table was raised in the high salt treatment. The results show that sugar and ash content have a strong increase correlation, while osmolality is poorly correlated with either, suggesting that the plant governs solute content through osmoregulation.