A relationship between stalk elongation and earliness of ripening in sugarcane

This study demonstrates a relationship between earliness of ripening and st alk elongation which could be useful in a sugarcane selection programme. Si xty-four sugarcane genotypes with contrasting ripening behaviour were grown in a quadruple-lattice design and ordinary logistic curves were shown to g ive the best fit between stalk height and time. Genotypes with early high s ucrose contents gave logistic curves with earlier inflection points and ste eper slopes at the point of inflection. The inflection point was shown to b e a reliable indicator of time of ripening and it was suggested that stalk height per se could be considered as a selection criterion for earliness of ripening in sugarcane.