EXPLORING RATOON POTENTIAL OF VARIOUS SUGARCANE VARIETIES UNDER SOUTHERN PUNJAB CONDITIONS

Abstract

Seven new promising sugarcane varieties viz., S2002US.312, S2002US.447, S2002US.628, S2003US.114, S2003US.123, S2003US.809 and S2003US.824 were evaluated for their ratoon yield and quality against a commercial cultivar HSF.240 under Southern Punjab conditions during 2011 at Sugarcane Research Station, Khanpur. The variety S2003US.114 on account of good sprouting per plant (2.84), higher 100-cane weight (97.33 kg), reasonably good millable cane count (111.30 thousand ha -1), significantly maximum cane yield of (108.05 t/ha) and comparable CCS% (12.41) against check HSF- 240, produced the highest sugar yield of 13.41 t/ha. It was followed by S2003US.824. The promising variety S2003US.114 on the basis of 15.65 and 15.21% more ratoon cane and sugar yield, respectively over control is capable of replacing the check variety and can make gigantic strides in sugarcane production for sweet revolution. A wide scale testing in various agro-ecological zones is, however, invited for regional adaptability.