Diana Méndez, Maria Alejandra Gómez, Miller Lopez and Nicolas Gil Zapata
Cenicaña, Valle del Cauca, Colombia; dmendez@cenicana.org
In Colombia’s sugarcane agroindustrial sector, there are two main methods for evaluating cane quality in terms of sucrose, Brix, fibre, and moisture; extraction by wet disintegration, recognized as the official method by the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA), and the hydraulic press extraction method, which ICUMSA granted a tentative status in 2022 and an Official (Reference) status in 2024. The latter is the most widely used, as it avoids water consumption, is easier to carry out, and allows faster processing, an average of five samples per hour, compared with the official method of two samples per hour. However, the relationship between both methods must be determined to ensure the reliability of laboratory results, as it has been observed that the press tends to overestimate sucrose % cane values. Two studies were conducted to compare these cane quality assessment methods. Jeffco (Australia) and Tecnal (Brazil) disintegrators were used for the wet disintegration method, along with the procedure recommended by ICUMSA (GS5-1[2022]). In the case of the press method, the procedures from ICUMSA (GS5-2[2022]), Brazil (including the C Factor), and Louisiana were evaluated. Statistically significant differences between the methods were found for sucrose and fibre values. The differences were particularly noticeable between the Louisiana and ICUMSA (GS5-2[2022]) formulae and the wet disintegration method, with values of 1.42 ± 0.66 and 0.72 ± 0.58 sucrose units, respectively. However, when using the C Factor, the difference between the two methods was 0.49 ± 0.40 sucrose units, which was not statistically significant. The hydraulic press method and the calculations suggested by ICUMSA and Louisiana overestimate sucrose values, while using the C Factor gives comparable results. These findings highlight the need for standardized direct cane analysis methods to ensure precise and reliable results, enabling the development of other methodologies, such as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), for evaluating these parameters.