A review and synthesis of sugarcane losses attributed to infield traffic

Abstract In most cases, infield traffic results in crop yield losses. Some of the factors that affect the magnitude of the losses are: The soil physical properties and moisture content at the time of trafficking; proximity and magnitude of the traffic impact relative to the crop; the extent of the field that is trafficked. For high biomass crops such as sugarcane, the amount of infield traffic is substantial compared to other crops when removing the crop from the field. A total of 134 studies detailing sugarcane yield responses to infield traffic were reviewed to better understand and estimate the impact of infield traffic. From an infield traffic management perspective, trials contrasting inter-row and row traffic yield responses relative to an untrafficked control under various treatment conditions were collated. Row traffic losses were found to be significantly worse than inter-row losses. The findings also support low impact infield equipment operating under controlled traffic practices. The collation of yield responses to various forms of infield traffic provide a means to quantify the economic benefit of better infield traffic practices and in certain cases may provide sufficient incentive for the changing of infield traffic equipment and systems.