Performance of elite cultivars of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) under water deficit conditions.

摘要

A study was conducted during 2003-04 and 2004-05 in Tamil Nadu, India, to evaluate the response of 1210 elite sugarcane clones (1068 Co canes bred at Coimbatore, 20 Co allied varieties, 32 foreign commercial hybrids and 90 interspecific hybrids of commercial value) to water deficit stress to identify potential drought-resistant clones and the traits that are more reliable for screening for drought resistance. The results showed significantly higher number of tillers in 123 clones. The number of superior clones for tiller height and percentage of cane formed tillers over total tillers were 90 and 25, respectively. More inferior clones were observed for tiller height and number of tillers. Drastic reduction in early growth was mainly due to reduction in these two traits. Mean single tiller weight was 0.19 kg and 13 genotypes recorded tillers above 0.40 kg. Mean tiller number and tiller height of the selections showed an increase of 13.82% and 13.37%, respectively. Maximum improvement of 50.46% was observed for the number of cane formed tillers, followed by the percentage of cane formed tillers over the total number of tillers, while tiller weight and height showed a marginal increase in the selection. Among the four cane parameters (NMC, single cane weight, cane diameter and cane length), NMC and cane length showed an improvement of 20.23% and 13.38%, respectively, and could be more useful in selection. Juice quality traits showed a decline, though the differences were not significant.