Prevention of N leaching and erosion
In Japan, sugarcane has been grown in order to reduce drainage of water as well as leaching of mineral N in fields receiving excessive manure around intensive livestock farms (Ishikawa et al., 2014). Sugarcane plant protects efficiently the soils against the erosion due to heavy rains and cyclones (Goebel, 2017).
Carbon sequestration
As a perennial C4 species, the sugarcane plant is a potent sink of carbon. One hectare of sugarcane is a permanent sink for about 80 tonnes of this greenhouse gas (Preston, 1995b).