NSUT13-313: A Promising Sugarcane Clone with High Yield

Abstract

Climate change, especially drought, has a significant impact on sugarcane production in Thailand, causing inconsistent and inadequate yield supply for the sugar industry’s demand. Planting sugarcane varieties that can give high yields and high sugar content in areas that had drought or soil infertility is crucial for solving the problem. During the years 2013 to 2024, NSUT13-313, a high-yielding sugarcane clone, was developed. This clone was derived from a cross between Q85 and DOA U-Thong 8. Multilocation evaluation trials, including preliminary, standard, and farm trials, were conducted from 2017 to 2024, comparing NSUT13-313 to the notable varieties, DOA KhonKaen3 (DOA KK3) and LK92-11, across 23 harvesting environments in the plant cane crop and the first and second ratoon crops. NSUT13-313 exhibited high yields, surpassing DOA KK3 and LK92-11, with an average yield of 18.0 tons/rai, which was 14 and 26% higher than those of DOA KK3 (15.8 tons/rai) and LK92-11 (14.3 tons/rai), respectively. Additionally, it had an average commercial cane sugar (CCS) value of 14.2, which was comparable to those of DOA KK3 (14.2 CCS) and LK92-11 (13.8 CCS), resulting in its sugar yield of 2.51 tons CCS/rai, which was higher than those of DOA KK3 (2.22 tons CCS/rai) and LK92-11 (1.97 tons CCS/rai) by 13 and 27%, respectively. This clone is appropriate for green harvesting because of its loose-leaf sheath, which facilitates easy de-trashing. Its CCS remains high until the late harvest season. This clone also exhibited moderate resistance to red rot and wilt diseases. Therefore, NSUT13-313 will be a promising sugarcane clone with high yield and suitable for farmers’ recommendation in the future.