Variability and heritability of yield and quality components in the ratoon crop of sugarcane

Abstract

Evaluation of the first ratoon crop of 48 hybrid sugarcane varieties in RED with three replications at the Sugarcane Research Station, Thiruvalla revealed that certain characters viz., germination count on the 45th day, shoot count on the 180th day, number of millable canes per plot and cane yield per plot had high genotypic coefficient or variation, heritability in the broad sense and genetic advance. Hence they are amenable to genetic improvement through selection and may be considered as dependable selection criteria for the improvement of cane and sugar yields in the first ratoon crop of sugarcane.