TECHNIQUE FOR RAISING THE SEEDLINGS FROM SUGARCANE HYBRID SEED (FUZZ) BY USING DIFFERENT SUBSTRATES

摘要

Raising sugarcane seedlings from Juzz or true seed is often confronted by lack of easily available growth substrates. The trial was performed to find a locally available and economically feasible growth mediumfor raising sugarcane seedlings and their establishment. Seven growth substrates using seedlings generated from the true sugarcane seed or fuzz from four different bi-parental crosses were used. The fuzz was harvested in the 2009-10 cropping season and evaluated in a completely randomized design in the shed net (green and black belt) before transplanting and hardening in polythene bags andfinally to the field for further evaluation. Results showed that a mixture of vermiculite, horse dung and Farm yard manure (FYM) along with soil and sand was superior to the other substrates with respect to early seedling emergence, and number of seedlings across all the cross combinations along with dark green foliage. Mixture of vermiculture along with sand and soil also showed good response to early seedlings emergence and seedling number in the four crosses. The implications of these results to present challenges in sugarcane breeding in Maharashtra state are discussed.