SOIL MOISTURE GROUPS FOR SUGARCANE MANAGEMENT

CANE YIELD in Colombia is normally lower after wet years due to increased damage associated with harvest and the difficulty of post-harvest cultivation. The magnitude of the problem is impacted on by soil characteristics. To identify fields or areas requiring emphasis on irrigation or drainage and for the development of agronomic management packages, soil moisture management groups have been developed. The definition of soil moisture management groups is based on the annual balance between precipitation at 75% frequency level and soil permeability. The precipitation records from the sugarcane automatic weather network and the information from a recent detailed study of the soils of the Cauca River Valley of Colombia have been combined using the geographical information system to generate the spatial distribution of the soil moisture groups. Five groups were defined on the basis of the expected annual excess or deficit of water for sugarcane: A first group with a water deficit, a second group with an excess of water ranging from 0 to 200 mm/year, a third group with an excess of 200 to 400 mm/year, a fourth group with an excess of 400 to 600 mm/year and a fifth group with an excess of water greater than 600 mm/year. These moisture groups have been used as a backbone for the agro-ecological zoning system of the sugarcane in the Cauca Valley of Colombia. The Colombian sugar industry is committed to use a site specific agriculture approach based on the combination of the production factors on each cane field.