Reducing sugarcane irrigation demand through planting date adjustment in Alagoas State, Brazil

ABSTRACT Sugarcane is both an important crop for the Brazilian Northeast economy, which faces severe water scarcity, and a water-intensive crop. Thus, it is important to develop irrigation strategies to reduce irrigation water demand in the region. This study aims to determine the sugarcane planting date that results in the maximum rainwater availability to the crop in the growing cycle. The crop effective precipitation was estimated from a soil water balance performed during three planting cycles of sugarcane, cultivar ‘RB 92579’. The crop was planted under subsurface drip irrigation in five months: October, November, December, January, and February, corresponding to the dry season period of the region. The experiment was conducted at the Acucar e Alcool Coruripe Mill, located in the Coruripe municipality, State of Alagoas, Brazil, during the years 2012 to 2016. For all planting dates and growing cycles studied, the average effective rainy precipitation was equal to 30% of the total rainfall under irrigated conditions and 54.5% without considering the irrigation component in the soil water balance. November was the planting date that resulted in the minimum irrigation depth for the sugarcane growing cycle, with the potential irrigation water saving ranging from 5 to 129 mm.