Assessing Feasibility of Growing Sugarcane by a Polythene Bag Culture System for Rapid Multiplication of Seed Cane in Sub-Tropical Climatic Conditions of India

Abstract

The conventional system of sugarcane (Saccharum species complex) planting is inefficient for rapidly multiplying the seed cane of newly released varieties due to a higher seed rate (6.0 t ha^-1) and low germination rate (35−40%). We examined the effect of planting methods on the multiplication rate of seed cane in a field experiment conducted at Lucknow (India) during the 2005−06 and 2006−07 cropping season. Forty- day- old plantlets grown in polythene bags in the nursery using 28,000 single-bud cane pieces per ha area, were transplanted at 45 cm spacing in furrows 90 cm apart and the results were compared with those obtained by the conventional practice of planting three- two - and one- bud cane pieces at the rate of 37,000, 55,500 and 111,000 setts per ha, respectively. The polythene bag culture produced a significantly higher number of shoots and millable canes and a higher seed cane yield as compared with the conventional planting method, which is an advantage for seed cane multiplication. The results further indicated that with almost equal cost of cultivation, the rate of seed cane multiplication was about 35 times by the polythene bag culture method and 8−11 times by the conventional planting method.