GENOTYPIC EVALUATION OF SUGARCANE GENOTYPES FOR RATOONING ABILITY

Five sugarcane genotypes (Malakand-9, Malakand-10, Malakand-11, Malakand-12 and Malakand-13) along with one check cultivar (CP 77-400) were evaluated for ratooning/stubbling ability. The experiment was planted in randomized complete block design with four replications at the Plant Breeding and Genetics Research Farm, NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar during 2004-05 crop season. Data were recorded on number of tillers stool-1, growth rate, stalk thickness, response to diseases i.e. ratoon stunting disease (RSD) and mosaic disease, refractive brix, cane yield, sucrose content and sugar yield. Highly significant (p 0.01) differences among the genotypes were observed for RSD, refractive brix, cane yield, sucrose content and sugar yield whereas variation among the genotypes for growth rate were only of significant (p 0.05) nature. Differences among the genotypes were observed non-significant (p 0.05) for stalk thickness, mosaic disease and number of tillers stool-1. Cane yield showed significantly positive correlations with refractive brix, sucrose content and sugar yield while it gave significantly negative correlation with RSD. Malakand-9 exhibited superiority among all genotypes for most of the traits and its genetic potential can be exploited in future breeding programs.