Measurement of the variability of brix along sugarcane stalk

Authors: Todd, James; Hale, Anna

Submitted to: American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/2020
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Each year approximately 75,000 seedlings and 7,500 first line sugarcane genotypes are grown, because these are large populations, sugar content is estimated by collecting Brix data in the field. The sugar content of sugarcane varies along the stalk with sucrose maturity starting at the bottom. At four dates in 2019 two stalks from each replication from the commercial variety maturity test were sampled. On each stalk, Brix readings were collected from the middle internode, two internodes above the middle, and two internodes below the middle internode. The majority of significant stalk variability (74%) occurred on the first measurement date (8-26-2019) with the majority (96%) of the differences being with the upper internodes, compared to the middle (50%) and lower (50%) internodes. This indicates that the majority of the stalks of released cultivars had ripened up to the middle internode by the end of August, which is the time the breeding scientists begin making field selections.