Future utilization of sugar crops

The cultivation of sugar cane has been carried out in India for a long time. The sugar cane is a gigantic grass which consists of roots, stalk and leaves. The stalk is like a bamboo and may be from eight to fifteen inches in height. Long narrow leaves grow in two rows. As the cane grows the lower leaves die and fall off. The stalk is a tube filled with soft fibers. The inner fibers contain the sugar. When the cane is ripe it produces at the top of the stalk a feathery plume of grey flowers, the “Arrow”. The usual time for ripening is from nine to fourteen months. Before ripening there is a lot of invert sugar present, and if the ripe cane is left standing for long, the sucrose changes into invert. Invert sugar is known to be undesirable, so it is important for the cane to be harvested when the amount of invert sugar is as low as possible and when the sucrose content is the highest. When ripe, the canes are cut down near the ground and the green tops and leaves are cut off. Part of the cane stalk near the top is cut off at harvest time and used for planting new canes.

The sugar beet has a long tapering root with long thin rootlets which gather nourishment from the soil. Beet is grown from seed sown in spring. Some weeks after sowing the young plants are thinned out. The beets are ripe at the end of September when they contain the greatest amount of sugar. The beet crop requires more attention than a cane crop. That’s why beet sugar is more costly to produce than cane sugar. The harvest must be gathered quickly before the first frosts. At harvesting time the soil round the root is loosened and the root is pulled out. The long tap root and leaves contain very little sugar.

The manufacture of beet sugar is a technological process involving principles of chemistry, physics and engineering. Actually, sugar production in Ukraine is not a new industry. It emerged at the beginning of the 19^th century. Both sugar cane and sugar beet give more food energy than other major crop. Formely such solvents as ethanol, butanol and acetone were made from sucrose or invert sugar in the form of molasses. Now these substances are made from hydrocarbons of petroleum and natural gas. Much research has already been carried out in the field of sucro-chemistry but still there are great opportunities for new researches in this field.

Active Vocabula ry

cane – тростина

arrow – стріла

bamboo – бамбук

gigantic – велетенський

narrow – вузький

stalk – стовбур

fiber – волокно

root – корінь

ripening – дозрівання

content – вміст

plume – перо, султан

seed – насіння

soil – грунт

nourishment – живлення

crop – врожай

production – виробництво

research – дослідження

ethanol – етиловий спирт

butanol – бутан

hydrocarbon – вуглеводень

grass – трава

leaves – листя

amount – кількість

substance – речовина

natural gas – природний газ

opportunity – можливість

solvent – розчин

Task 1