Physiological approaches for Drought tolerance in sugarcane Saccharum officinarum L

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted at Research and Development Farm of the Ugar newlineSugar Works Ltd., Ugarkhurd (Belgaum District), Karnataka during 2004-05 and 2005-06 to newlinestudy the influence of different agro-chemicals on various morpho-physiological, biochemical newlineand yield and yield components in sugarcane under moisture stress conditions. The newlineexperiments were laid out in randomized block design with 13 treatments and three newlinereplications. newlineThe morphological parameters, viz., plant height, length and girth of internodes were newlinesignificantly higher with the soil application of K2O (75 kg/ha) followed by foliar spray of KCl newline(3%) and foliar spray of KCl (3%) + urea (3%) compared to control. Significantly higher newlinenumber of tillers per hill were observed with the foliar spray of methanol (2%) compared to all newlineother treatments. newlineAmong various biochemical parameters, chlorophyll a , chlorophyll b and total newlinechlorophyll contents were found to be significantly higher with the soil application of K2O (75 newlinekg/ha) followed by foliar spray of PMA (20 ppm) and foliar spray of methanol (2%) compared newlineto moisture stress treatments. Whereas, praline content was significantly higher in water newlinestress treatments compared to all other treatments. While, the NRA was found to be newlinesignificantly lower in water stress treatment compared to other treatments. newlineAmong various growth parameters, LAI was found to be significantly higher in the newlinefoliar spray of PMA (20 ppm) compared to all other treatments. Whereas, LAD, SLW, AGR newlinewere found to be maximum in normal irrigation compared to all other stress treatments. Net newlinemillable canes were found significantly higher in foliar spray of methanol (2%) followed by soil newlineapplication of K2O (75 kg/ha) and foliar spray of KCl (3%) + urea (3%) compared to control newline(water stress). Sugar production (t/ha) was significantly higher with the soil application of K2O newline(75 kg/ha) compared to all other treatments. newline