Resumo

FANDOS, Carmina et al. Application of remote sensing and GIS for age differentiation of sugarcane crops. Tucuman, R. Argentina. Rev. ind. agric. Tucumán [online]. 2019, vol.96, n.2, pp.37-45. ISSN 1851-3018.

There are precedents that indicate the rotation of sugarcane crops with soybean crops result in an improvement of the yield for sugarcane, as well as in a beneficial alternative for the sustainability of the sugarcane agroecosystem, since it incorporates genetic diversity to it. The rotation with soybean crops is a common practice in the sugarcane plantations located in Tucuman province. Information about the age of sugarcane crops on a regional scale is scarce. The cane monoculture makes it difficult to identify renewals in the sugarcane crops using satellite images. However, when sugarcane crops are rotated with other crops or interspersed with fallow periods, it facilitates the identification of renewals or new cane plantations. This paper aimed to differentiate the age of sugarcane crops that utilize this soybean/sugarcane rotation system and are available for the 2018 harvest in Tucuman. A multitemporal analysis of categorized images, using GIS techniques, was made. The thematic coverages of soybeans and sugarcane crops for the period 2010-2018 were used as a base. These layers were the result of the multispectral classification of satellite images. Results indicated that 44% of the area planted with sugarcane and available for the 2018 harvest in Tucuman had been rotated with soybean crops at least once in the time period between 2010 and 2017. Of this total, 21% corresponded to plant cane, 36% to the first to third ratoons and 43% to the group of the fourth to seventh ratoon. The percentage distribution of age s groups reveals an aging of the sugarcane plantations in Tucuman. Nevertheless, the analysis in those departments with high percentages of soybean/sugarcane rotation shows a predominance of young sugarcane plantations in departments with the most serious water deficit problems. This methodology resulted in a source of information about plantations on a regional scale.

Palavras-chave : sugarcane age; soybean/sugarcane rotation; satellite images.