Sugarcane

Introduction
Physical description
Culture and cultivation
Diseases
Pests
Breeding

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Several freshly cut green sugarcane stalks, Saccharum officinarum, stacked together on a white background.

A sugarcane harvester loads freshly cut sugarcane into a truck beside a tall green field on a farm near Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil.

Close-up of a cane toad, Rhinella marina, showing its bumpy brown skin and large dark eye, with a blurred green background.

Tall, dense stalks of sugarcane grow on both sides of a narrow path, with green leaves arching overhead and sunlight illuminating the plants.

Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh: sugarcane production

Quizzes

Ceviche. Peruvian ceviche (sebiche). Raw seafood dish with lime, cilantro, peppers, plantains. Cuisine, food

A World of Food Quiz

Chef tossing vegetables in a frying pan over a burner (skillet, food).

What’s on the Menu? Vocabulary Quiz

Grains and spices in bags, India. (Indian, vendor, market, food)

Ultimate Foodie Quiz

Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap

Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous

Related Questions

During which season is sugarcane usually harvested and milled?
How are sugar crystals separated from molasses?
How are sugarcane fields weeded by hand and by machine?
How are sugarcane stalks transported from fields to factories?
How do cooler temperatures help sugarcane mature?
How do farmers grow new sugarcane plants from stalk cuttings?
How do farmers harvest sugarcane by hand?
How do farmers irrigate sugarcane when rainfall is too low?
How does a sugarcane bud develop after planting?
How does a sugarcane canopy reduce weed growth?
How does diffusion extract sugar from prepared sugarcane?
How does evaporation turn clarified sugarcane juice into syrup?
How is blackstrap molasses different from lighter cane molasses?
How is ethanol made from sugarcane and its by-products?
How is juice extracted from sugarcane stalks at a factory?
How is molasses made during sugarcane processing?
How is rum made from sugarcane products?
How is sugarcane different from sugar beet as a source of sugar?
How is sugarcane juice clarified before it is made into sugar crystals?
How long does sugarcane take to grow in Louisiana?
How many buds are usually planted on a sugarcane cutting?
How many ratoon crops are commonly harvested before a sugarcane field is replanted?
How much water does sugarcane need during its growing period?
How tall can a sugarcane plant grow?
In which climate zones is sugarcane grown most successfully?
What are sugarcane seed cane and cane sets?
What do mature sugarcane stalks and leaves look like?
What is a sugarcane stool?
What is bagasse and how is it used after sugarcane juice is removed?
What is tillering in sugarcane plants?
What minimum temperature supports good sugarcane growth?
What role do chopping knives and shredders play in sugarcane processing?
What soil mixture is ideal for sugarcane cultivation?
Which foods and products are made from cane molasses?
Which nutrients are supplied to sugarcane through fertilizers?
Which sugar products are made through open-pan sugarcane processing?
Which types of soil can be used to grow sugarcane?
Why are some sugarcane-growing areas switching to harvesting unburned cane?
Why can fertilizer runoff from sugarcane fields harm nearby waterways?
Why can it take up to 10 years to release a new sugarcane variety?
Why do sugarcane breeders cross noble canes with wild cane species?
Why does sugarcane need well-drained soil?
Why has mechanical sugarcane harvesting become more common?
Why is sugarcane considered a perennial grass?
Why is sugarcane grown commercially?
Why is sugarcane sometimes burned before or after harvest?
Why is water withheld from sugarcane during the ripening period?
Why must weeds be controlled in young sugarcane fields?
Why should harvested sugarcane be processed soon after it is cut?

Science Plants Flowering Plants

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External Websites

National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Sugarcane breeding: a fantastic past and promising future driven by technology and methods
Agricultural Marketing Resource Center - Sugarcane Profile
WebMD - Cane Sugar: Are There Health Benefits?
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Animals and Plants - Sugarcane
Food and Agriculture Organization - Sugarcane
University of Florida IFAS Extension - Sugarcane Botany: A Brief View
Pennsylvania State University - PlantVillage - Sugarcane
Purdue University - Horticulture and Landscape Architecture - Sugar Cane

Sugarcane

plant

Also known as: Saccharum officinarum

Written by

Takeo Yamane

Former Professor of Food Manufacture, Showa Women's University, Tokyo. Author of Cane Sugar Handbook.

Takeo Yamane

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 4, 2026 •History

Taxonomy See also list of plants in the family Poaceae Sugarcane, (Saccharum officinarum), economically and culturally important perennial grass primarily cultivated for its juice from which sugar is processed. Most of the world’s sugarcane is grown in subtropical and tropical areas. The plant is also grown for biofuel production, especially in Brazil, as the canes can be used directly to produce ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The by-products from cane sugar processing, namely the straw and bagasse...

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