Evaluation of sugarcane clones for yield, juice quality, borer and red rot resistance

Field experimental trials were conducted to evaluate the thirty-one sugarcane clones for cane yield and quality traits along with borer resistance. To assess the borer resistance of sugarcane clones, early shoot borer and inter-node borer incidence were recorded periodically. Data on the number of tillers, number of millable canes, cane height, cane yield, brix per cent, sucrose content, commercial cane sugar (%) and sugar yield (t. ha-1) were recorded to identify the promising pre-release sugarcane clones. Clone C 32028 recorded the highest cane yield (151.52 t. ha-1) followed by clone C 32016 (144.93 t. ha-1) and C 33144 (143.75 t. ha-1). For sucrose content, clone C 33035 recorded the highest sucrose content (18.07%) followed by C 33024 (18.02%) and C 33260 (17.95%). For sugar yield, the test clone C 32028 (19.47 t. ha-1) recorded the highest sugar yield followed by the clone C 32016 (18.58 t. ha-1), C 33114 (18.47 t. ha-1) and C 33075 (18.23 t. ha-1). Among the test clones, C 32028, C 32016, C 33114, C 33075 and C 33276 outperformed the check varieties in cane yield, sucrose content, sugar yield and borer resistance. Hence it was recommended that, selected promising clones could be forwarded for the next evaluation trials for variety release.