Alberto Mario Arroyo Aviez1, Elkin Geovanni Sanchez Roncancio2, Isabel Cristina Aguirre Parada2 and Daniela Alexandra Zapata Gálvez2 #
1Colombian Sugarcane Research Center (CENICAÑA), Experimental Station, Cali-Florida Highway Km 26, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
2Providencia Sugar Mill, El Cerrito, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Irrigation is one of Colombia’s most essential and costly practices in sugarcane cultivation. Approximately 90% of sugarcane crops are irrigated, making efficient water use increasingly critical to maximizing production, reducing costs, and promoting sustainability. This study evaluated irrigation management using the water balance methodology. The experiment was conducted in a commercial sugarcane field irrigated by a central pivot system at the Providencia sugar mill, using a randomized block design with six treatments and three replications. The treatments consisted of applying different water volumes based on the percentage of water requirement calculated using the water balance method: 60% (T1), 80% (T2), 100% (T3), 120% (T4), 140% (T5), and a control treatment (T6) representing the mill’s conventional management. In total, 18 plots were evaluated. The crop yields were 138, 152, 163, 168, 169, and 142 t/ha for T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, respectively. The applied irrigation depths were 371, 445, 554, 661, 736, and 429 mm, respectively. Regarding water productivity, values of 12.1, 12.5, 12.3, 11.7, 11.2, and 11.8 kg/m3 of water applied were recorded for T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, respectively. Economically, when comparing each treatment to the control (T6), treatments T2, T3, T4, and T5 showed increases in economic benefits of 4%, 13%, 16%, and 15%, respectively, while T1 showed a 5% reduction. Treatment T3 proved to be the most efficient in terms of water productivity, achieving a total yield only 3.5% lower than the highest recorded yield, but with a 25% reduction in irrigation water used. These results suggest that the optimal irrigation management for central pivot systems should be aligned with the conditions of treatment T3, allowing for higher profitability and more water use efficiency in sugarcane crops.