Short, lop-sided internode in S.officinarum-revisited

Abstract

Saccharum officinarum, more commonly referred to as noble cane, possesses attractive morphological variation in rind colour, rind stripes and cane shape. In the present study, an interesting trait of short lopsided internodes exhibited by some of the genotypes of S. officinarum was examined. Six S. officinarum genotypes exhibited this trait in varying percentage of shoots and also in varying numbers i.e. single or groups of two or more at one point, interspersed with normal internodes. Anatomical observations revealed that the short internodes had a relatively shorter cell with meristematic activity as opposed to the longer thick walled mature cells in normal internodes. This trait may have been lost due to selective planting of canes with normal internodes. Thus, selective planting may need to be followed to maintain or prevent short internode trait in the germplasm accessions.