Impact on Proline Content of Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) under Salinity Stress

For sustainable production of sugarcane, healthy and more acclimatized plants should be developed that can easily cope up all the environmental barriers of biotic and abiotic stress. Soil salinization is one of these kinds of stress that limits the productivity of crops worldwide. We have investigated the proline content of plant under normal and two different levels of salt irrigation water (ECiw10dSm-1 and ECiw 20 dSm-1) consecutively for two years of crop production in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Ten sugarcane varieties (Co 0118, Co 0238, Co 5011, CoLk 99270, CoS 8279, CoSe 8457, Co 5009, CoS 7250, CoPant 97222, Co 98014) were planted in the replicate of three under complete randomized design. Salt treatments were given at formative stage and the tests were performed at grand growth stage of plant life cycle. Effect of salinity can be seen on other phenotypic factors of plant also in correlation with proline. On exposure to salt stress, tolerant varieties CoPant 97222, CoS 7250, Co 98014 were found to accumulate more proline than to varieties Co 0238, CoSe 8457 and Co 0118, while CoS 8279, Co 5011 and Co 5009 show moderate behavior.