ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. Despite of the agronomic importance for water management, few studies of sugarcane roots have been performed under field conditions during the crop cycle. The aim of this study was to determine the root distribution in the soil profile of four sugarcane cultivars. The field experiment was carried out in Campinas, SP, Brazil, and the cultivars present two different leaf architectures: IACSP95-5000 and IACSP94-2094 with arched leaves; IACSP94-2101 and SP79-1011 with upright leaves. The fertigation was performed by subsurface drip system and the soil moisture was monitored by capacitance probes. Three access acrylic tubes with 1.05 m-length were used for each cultivar. The images were obtained using the CID Root Scanner CI-600™ in five dates, 38, 58, 123, 185 and 205 days after harvest (DAH) during the third cycle (2^nd cane ratoon) in four depths, up to 0.8 m. The data were analyzed by the software CID CI-690™. The results showed root distribution patterns slightly different among the cultivars. The root distribution pattern of the cultivars presented accurate adjust with exponential fit, except for IACSP94-2101 at 58 DAH. It was observed differences between root distribution among cultivars and sampling dates, especially up to 0.4 m depth. In all four cultivars, at 205 DAH, more than 50% of root distribution was observed up to 0.2 m depth and more than 80% up to 0.4 m depth.