Yield and Yield Components Relationship in Sugarcane

Abstract

Cane yield and its component relationship can provide criterion to select for high yielding genotypes in sugarcane improvement program. Cane yield is affected by variation in environment and genotype x environment interaction. Thus the plant breeder needs to study relationship between agronomic traits and its direct effect on cane yield to use for selection of superior genotypes in the breeding program. The data used in this study were taken from 34 yield trial experiment conducted from 1984 to 1991 by office of the Cane and Sugar Board, Ministry of Industry, and the Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The experiments covered three crops of cane, namely plant cane, first and second ratoon cane in each of the varietal trials. The experiments were classified into 3 groups in which 13 agronomic traits were recorded. Group 1 data examined relationship between stalk number per stool ( STKSTL), stool number per rai ( STLN ), and stalk number per rai    ( STKN ). The second group studied cane yield in relation to stalk diameter ( DIA ), stalk height ( HLT ), and internode number ( INTN ). The last group explored sugar yield ( SY ), CCS, brix, pol, fibre, and purity. Each data set were analyzed using correlation and path analysis. Result of the first group revealed that STKSTL had the highest direct effect on STKN in plant cane, whereas the effect decreased in ratoon cane, while STLN provided higher direct effect on STKN from plant cane to the first and second ratoon cane, respectively. The second group showed that STKN had the highest effect on CY, followed by HLT and DIA, respectively. Both STKN and DIA were more important in the first and second ratoon respectively. In the last group, pol showed high direct effect on CCS of plant cane and second ratoon, whereas fibre provided negative direct effect on CCS in all three crops.