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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Canal Point, Florida » Sugarcane Field Station » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #366763
Research Project: Development of High-Yielding, Stress Tolerant Sugarcane Cultivars Using Agronomic, Genetic, and Molecular Approaches

Location: Sugarcane Field Station

Title: Genotypic Variation of Sugarcane Juice Brix and Pol Values and Their Relationships

Author
item Zhao, Duli

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/2019
Publication Date: 11/11/2019
Citation: Zhao, D. 2019. Genotypic Variation of Sugarcane Juice Brix and Pol Values and Their Relationships. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. Session No. 360, Poster No. 1535.

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: Brix and Pol values of sugarcane stalk juice are two important traits to estimate cane sucrose concentration and quality. A field study was conducted using 18 sugarcane genotypes in three crops of plant cane, first ratoon, and second ratoon. The objectives of this study were to determine variation of juice Brix and Pol values across genotypes and to test if Brix values collected in an experimental field during ripening using a handhold device could represent the Brix values obtained from a millhouse of crush stalk juice samples in December. Juice was collected using a handhold device from three stalks in each plot monthly from September through January. Brix values were determined using a digital refractometer in the field. In mid-December, samples of 10 mature stalks were collected from each plot and milled to analyze juice Brix and Pol of crush stalks using a NIR system. There were no differences among three crops in either Brix or Pol values for the millhouse juice samples. Correlations between juice Brix values in the field and in the millhouse depended on the field sampling date and were the highest (r = 0.734 to 0.876) in December. There was a strong linear relationship between juice Brix and Pol values across genotypes and crops (r2 = 0.925, n = 54). A linear model (Pol = 3.7814 × Brix – 1.1046, r2 = 0.929), developed from the plant-cane data, can be used to predict juice Pol values of ratoon crops based on their Brix. Therefore, juice Pol values can be precisely estimated using Brix values across genotypes in a breeding program.