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.