Effect of Water Stress on Physiological Characters and Juice Quality of Sugarcane

The present study was conducted during 2007-2008 cropping season at Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute, Ishurdi-6620, Pabna to investigate the effect of drought stress at various levels with a view to study the physiological characters of sugarcane associated with juice quality under drought condition. Six genotypes and four drought cycles were (i) daily watering (ii) 4 days without water (iii) 6 days without water (iv) 8 days without water imposed in the study. The physiological parameters viz., total chlorophyll, chlorophyll stability index, leaf area index and relative water content and biochemical parameters viz., brix, pol, purity and reducing sugar were reduced under drought treatments. The rates of reduction for most of the characters were higher in I 97-01, I 111-01, I 112-01 and I 191-02. The genotypes I 95-01 and Isd 36 were found better than other genotypes in respect of physiological adaptation associated with juice quality. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships among the physiological parameters total chlorophyll, chlorophyll stability index, leaf area index and relative water content with juice quality in sugarcane under water stress during its grand growth period, which will help sugarcane breeders in adopting traits for selecting drought tolerant varieties. © 2012 Society for Sugar Research & Promotion.