Evaluation of elite sugarcane clones for drought tolerance.

A field experiment was conducted during 2004-2005 crop season with seven promising midlate sugarcane varieties along with the resistant standard (Co 86032) in a strip plot design and evaluated for drought tolerance. The impact of moisture stress on various morphological characters such as plant height, leaf number, leaf area and shoot population was recorded at the termination of water stress in both normal and stressed plants. Drought treatment caused an average reduction of 27.89, 22.91, 27.43 and 17.46% in shoot population, plant height, leaf production and LAI, respectively. Co 99004 and Co 99008 transpired less water and showed relatively higher photosynthetic rate with significant improvement in growth attributes, viz. shoot population, plant height, leaf production and LAI. Yield and its parameters showed remarkable changes due to inadequate water availability during the formative phase. Water stress led to an average reduction in cane and sugar yield to the tune of 36.36% and 40.36% respectively. However, the reduction was comparatively less in Co 99004 and Co 99012 than the resistant standard (Co 86032).