Ripening and the Use of Ripeners for Better Sugarcane Management

The sugarcane crop is important because of its multiple uses: it is used around the world "in natura" for forage for animal feed or as raw material for the manufacture of brown sugar, molasses, alcoholic beverages, sugar and ethanol. Processing its waste also has great economic importance, especially for vinasse, which is transformed into organic fertilizer, and for bagasse, which is transformed into fuel. Sugarcane is grown mainly in tropical and subtropical climates across a wide region, between the 35° north and south latitudes from the equator. The ideal climate has two distinct seasons: the first is hot and humid to facilitate budding, tillering and plant growth and the second is cold and dry to promote maturation and the consequent accumulation of sucrose in stems.