Agroindustrial performance of sugarcane varieties for panela in Antioquia, Colombia

In the municipality of San Carlos the panela agroindustry is the most important agricultural sector, in the economic, in the generation of employment and in food security. The varieties of sugar cane obtained by Cenicaña represent alternatives of competitiveness and productivity for the Colombian panelero sector. The present research evaluated agronomically and in yield in a Cimpa sugar mill type, ten varieties of sugar cane, in two localities of the municipality of San Carlos, Antioquia, in a design of complete blocks at random, with two replicates. In four rows of six meters in length, 10 buds were sown by furrow. With an average of three cutting cycles, the variables studied were tons of cane per hectare, tons of panela per hectare, industrial yield (%) and industrial quality. The varieties CC 93-4418, CC 93-3817, CC 93-3895 and CC 92-2154 exceeded in 40, 34, 30 and 21 tons of cane and 7, 6, 5 and 5 tons of panela, respectively, to the yields obtained by the control Co 421. The industrial yield fluctuated between 11 and 13%, the control was 12%. These four varieties have good characteristics of pH, concentration of soluble solids, saccharose and reducing sugars. These results are replicable and acceptable for most of the producing areas of the department of Antioquia