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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Canal Point, Florida » Sugarcane Field Station » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #320883
Title: Variation in Growth, Physiology, and Yield of Six Sugarcane Cultivar from across the Globe grown in Florida, USA

Author
item SINGH, MANINDER - University Of Florida
item Zhao, Duli
item SHINE, JAMES - Florida Sugar Cane League
item POLACIK, KRISTEN - Florida Sugar Cane League
item SINGELS, ABRAHAM - South African Sugarcane Research Institute

Submitted to: International Society of Sugarcane Technologist Agronomy Workshop
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2015
Publication Date: 8/24/2015
Citation: Singh, M., Zhao, D., Shine, J., Polacik, K., Singels, A. 2015. Variation in Growth, Physiology, and Yield of Six Sugarcane Cultivar from across the Globe grown in Florida, USA. International Society of Sugarcane Technologist Agronomy Workshop. P.36.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sugarcane (a complex hybrid of Saccharum spp.) is an important crop in south Florida and across the world. Evaluation of cultivars with diverse genetic background under similar location can help us in understanding cultivar response to environment and in identifying various physiological traits that could lead to improved yields. Moreover, evaluation of common set of diverse cultivars grown in diverse environments can help in understanding genotype by environment interaction. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth, yield, and physiological responses of six sugarcane cultivars from across the globe on organic soils in Florida, as part of the ICSM (International Consortium of Sugarcane Modelers) project on modeling worldwide genetic x environment interaction. Two identical field trials were established at the Everglades Research and Education Center (EREC) in Belle Glade, Florida in 2013. One was used to collect data for the plant cane and the other for first-ratoon cane. Six sugarcane cultivars from various sugarcane growing regions of the world (CP88-1762, HoCP96-540, Q183, R570, N41, and NCo376) were established in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. Data were collected on various physiological and phenological parameters throughout the early growing season in 2014. Destructive harvest was also conducted four times during the season at about 3-month interval in all the plots. Similar dataset is being collected from the first-ratoon crop during the 2015 growing season. Based on data collected from plant cane in 2014, Q183 showed earliest while cultivar R570 showed latest emergence and time to reach 90% emergence compared to other cultivars. Similarly Q183 and R570 had greatest and lowest shoot populations, respectively, in the early phase of growth. Normalized Differences Vegetative Index (NDVI) calculated from canopy reflectance data also showed lower values in R570, NCo376, and N41 and higher values in Q183, CP88-1762, and HoCP96-540 during the early growing season. Cultivars showed variation in all physiological parameters throughout the season, with Q183 and R570 showing greatest while HoCP96-540 the lowest transpiration efficiency, owing to the difference in their photosynthetic rates. Leaf relative chlorophyll level (SPAD reading) was greatest in NCo376 and lowest in HoCP96-540. Cultivar CP88-1762 had highest yield which was significantly greater than HoCP96-540 at final harvest. Results indicated the presence of variability among various parameters in the cultivars used in this study. This dataset will be used to calibrate and validate various sugarcane models (e.g. CANEGRO) to evaluate the ability of crop models to simulate genotype by environment interactions.