Effects of Environmental Variability on Sugarcane Production in the North and the Northeast of Thailand

Abstract

Environmental aspects e.g. soil type and weather directly affects plant production. Sugarcane is an important economic crop in Thailand. Planting areas are scattering around the sugar mill. The impacts of diverse environments on yield of sugarcane in the North and the Northeast of Thailand were evaluated. Soil group classification data from Department of Land Development and regional daily weather data from ECHAM were used. Data from the years 2010-2039 of the area of 20 x 20 km predicted by PRECIS were used as input for the evaluation by using CANEGRO model in DSSAT program. Results showed that sugarcane planting areas in the North and Northeast of Thailand were influenced by 1079 and 1980 environmental factors, respectively. It was found that diverse environmental aspects, both spatial and temporal factors, greatly affected sugarcane yield. Spatial variables are soil and weather factors while temporal variables are the variations of rainfall. Zoning of sugarcane production areas as well as irrigation would not decrease yield variations in all environments. However, yield variations decreased by adequate application of water in each environment. Results indicated that interactions between water and soil property were the main effects in sugarcane yield variations. To minimize yield variation in sugarcane, it is necessary to improve irrigation and develop drought tolerant varieties with higher water use efficiency.