Enhancing sugarcane yield per hectare through improved virus-free seed nursery programme

Abstract

Sugarcane production is affected by different diseases in the country and among them red rot, smut, wilt and pineapple disease (sett rot) are the important fungal diseases. Leaf scald (LSD) and ratoon stunting (RSD) are the important bacterial and mosaic and yellow leaf disease (YLD) are the major viral diseases prevalent in almost all parts of the country. Besides these, a phytoplasma disease, grassy shoot (GSD) is also a serious disease, which affects sugarcane productivity. Further, foliar diseases such as pokkah boeng, rust, brown spot, ring spot, brown stripe, eye spot, etc may cause loss to sugarcane depending on the prevailing environmental conditions. Slow buildup of many non-fungal pathogens in sugarcane causes decline in varietal performance and this affects crop vigour and overall productivity of the ruling varieties under field conditions. Hence we are unable to harness the potential yield of the elite varieties for many years in a sustained way. Since most of these pathogens are transmitted through seed in sugarcane, greater emphasis are given to seed health to manage the diseases. Ever since YLD became a serious threat to sugarcane cultivation, ICAR-SBI has given more emphasis on healthy seed programme to address varietal degeneration by elimination of systemic virus infections through tissue culture combined with molecular diagnosis. This report gives a brief information on the impact of meristem culture combined with molecular diagnosis to produce healthy planting materials and effective management of YLD and other non-fungal disease especially GSD in the popular sugarcane variety of tropical states ‘Co 86032’. This approach resulted in achieving about 250 tonnes of cane yield per ha in the popular variety.