Integrated crop management for sustainable sugarcane production: Recent advances

Sugarcane (interspecific hybrids of Saccharum spp.) farmers throughout the world face constant challenges to sustain production and profitability while growing their crop in an ecologically sound manner. An agricultural system that successfully meets these challenges is defined as a system of integrated crop management. The purpose of this article is to review recent research that contributes to improved applications of integrated crop management in sugarcane. Agronomic research topics reviewed included improved yields in continuous sugarcane rotations, geographic information systems, modeling, and optimization of fertilizers. Contributions of both traditional and molecular genetics were reviewed as well as recent research advances in sugarcane pathology, entomology, and weed control. The sustainable relationship between sugarcane fields and factories was also described. The review demonstrated that specific challenges facing sugarcane growers differ among regions and countries. However, a research approach that is widely used to resolve these issues is to incorporate the principles of integrated crop management-productivity, profitability, and ecological soundness.