Vehicles will be rented at government rental rates. In addition, Triangle will carry out harvesting, transportation, crushing, fermentation and combustion of sweet sorghum storks and bagasse at the Triangle sugar mill. Modifications to the mill facilities will also be required in order to re-route the extracted sorghum juice through a clarification and concentration step directly to the batch fermenters or storage tanks, requiring extra pipework and pumps. The equipment is essential for the monitoring of crop growth and water efficiency parameters and is unavailable for rental in Zimbabwe. It will be continuously used during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year trials.
Water management is a key factor to optimising sorghum growth.
Data derived on water, growth and sugar status will quantify resource use and therefore economic agronomic parameters. Water use will be analysed through the use of plant and soil water monitoring equipment. Plant water status and dynamics will be measured using a leaf water potential metre and a field porometer. Soil water monitoring will be done through a combination of neutron probes and classical bulk density analysis. A drying oven is essential for both the soil and plant moisture analysis.