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Physiological traits imparting drought stress tolerance to promising sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) clones

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Abstract

Drought is one of the most important environmental constraints limiting sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) production worldwide. It is estimated that nearly 60% of the total sugarcane area suffers from water stress. Using the important physiological markers, drought tolerance potential of elite sugarcane clones is evaluated every year at ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore to identify those suitable for cultivation in drought prone areas of India. The present study is the field evaluation of six sugarcane clones in the advanced varietal trial conducted during the year 2018–2019, wherein the relevance of physiological traits conferring adaptive tolerance to drought is reinstated. In the formative phase, drought stress resulted in an average reduction of 20.5, 36.5, 22.1, 5.9 and 4.7 per cent in shoot population, plant height, leaf area index, SPAD chlorophyll index and photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) respectively. However, the clones Co 12009 and Co 12012 showed relatively better growth attributes both under control and drought stress which were on par with the resistant standards Co 86032 and Co 99004. Drought induced 12.6, 15.7, 23.5 and 32.9% reduction in internodal length, cane height, single cane weight and cane yield, however the clones Co 12009 and Co 12012 recorded comparatively higher cane yield of 86.6 and 94.1 tonnes/ha under drought condition, respectively. The clones Co 12009 and Co 12012 were rated as tolerant due to their ability to sustain cane yield and juice quality potential under drought stress, which might be attributed to retaining superior morphological and physiological traits.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute for providing the necessary infrastructure. We thank Dr. C. Palaniswamy, Head, Division of Crop Production and Dr. S. Vasantha, Principal Scientist, Plant Physiology for their guidance and support throughout this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Physiology Section, Division of Crop Production, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641 007, India

    R. Gomathi, V. Krishnapriya & R. Arunkumar

  2. Division of Crop Improvement, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641 007, India

    P. Govindaraj & Bakshi Ram

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  1. R. Gomathi
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  2. V. Krishnapriya
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  3. R. Arunkumar
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  4. P. Govindaraj
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  5. Bakshi Ram
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Contributions

All authors contributed to conception and design of the experiment. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by GR, KV, AR, GP and BR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by GR and KV, and critically revised by GP. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. GR and GP contributed equally to this work.

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Correspondence to R. Gomathi.

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Gomathi, R., Krishnapriya, V., Arunkumar, R. et al. Physiological traits imparting drought stress tolerance to promising sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) clones. Plant Physiol. Rep. 25, 509–515 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-020-00536-2

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