The Quantitative Inhibition Effects of Meteorological Drought on Sugarcane Growth Using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer-CANEGRO Model in Lai-bin, China

Sugarcane is the most important cash crop for producing sugar and the most promising high-yield bioenergy crop in China. Lai-bin is a major sugarcane growing and karst area in the Guangxi Province of China. However, frequent droughts over the years have caused huge losses on sugarcane production in this region. Therefore, the daily quantitative response mechanisms of sugarcane growth to multiple meteorological drought scenarios were discovered in Lai-bin using the DSSAT−CANEGRO model. The daily Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was developed to detect the possible scenarios of meteorological drought events over the sugarcane growth periods. The results indicate that, in general, the inhibitory effect on sugarcane growth is enhanced by the increase in the intensity and duration of meteorological drought, which involved cane yield (CY), stem height (SH), leaf area index (LAI), and evapotranspiration (ET). Additionally, a light drought at the seedling stage and a light, moderate, and severe drought at the maturity stage give a promotion effect on sugarcane growth, but its overall CY increase rate is less than 5%. The stem elongation stage is the most sensitive period of sugarcane growth to all scenarios of meteorological drought, and the CY reduction rates reached 7.12%, 16.48%, 18.80%, and 29.05%, when the plants suffered from light, moderate, severe, and extreme meteorological droughts, respectively. Alternate drought–flood scenarios presented a facilitating or an inhibiting effect on sugarcane growth during different periods, which cannot be ignored. In conclusion, the quantitative function relationships between meteorological drought and sugarcane growth are revealed by this study.