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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Canal Point, Florida » Sugarcane Field Station » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #373981
Research Project: Development of High-Yielding, Stress Tolerant Sugarcane Cultivars Using Agronomic, Genetic, and Molecular Approaches

Location: Sugarcane Field Station

Title: Dynamics of sugar in different stalk internodes as affected by sugarcane genotype and harvest date

Author
item Zhao, Duli
item ZHU, KAI - Guangxi University
item GAO, XINXIN - Yunnan Sugarcane Research Institute
item Aria, Philip

Submitted to: American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/20/2020
Publication Date: 7/15/2020
Citation: Zhao, D., Zhu, K., Gao, X., Aria, P.J. 2020. Dynamics of sugar in different stalk internodes as affected by sugarcane genotype and harvest date. American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists. 40:9.

Interpretive Summary: N/A

Technical Abstract: A study was conducted at the USDA-ARS Sugarcane Field Station in Canal Point, Florida using six sugarcane cultivars of CP00-1101, CP01-1372, CP05-1526, CP89-2143, CP96-1252, and HoCP96-540 to determine if cultivar flowering habit affected juice sugar dynamics and composition. These cultivars can be clarified to three groups of never flowering (CP00-1101, CP01-1372), intermediate (CP05-1526, CP89-2143), and early heavy flowering (CP96-1252, HoCP96-540). During the harvest season, stalk juice samples were collected from four internode positions [i.e., internodes 5 and 10 from the ground level and top visible dewlap (TVD)-1 and TVD-5 from top of stalks] in late October, Mid December, and late January. Juice Brix, sucrose, glucose, and fructose concentrations in these juice samples were measured. Results indicated that juice hexose (glucose + fructose) concentration decreased sharply with harvest date and was the highest in the TVD-5 internode among the four internode positions at all the three harvest dates. The TVD-5 and TVD-1 internodes had 46 and 61%, respectively lower Brix values, and 65 and 91% lower sucrose concentration than internode 5 or 10. Among the six cultivars, CP00-1101 and CP89-2143 had the lowest and CP01-1372 and HoCP96-540 had the highest juice hexose concentration. Compared with hexose, juice sucrose concentration had much less variation among the cultivars tested, although CP00-1101 showed higher sucrose than others. There was no clear association between flowering habit and juice sucrose concentration, but early flowering cultivars had lower hexose in top internodes compared with late flowering or non-flowering cultivars. The information from this study can help growers optimize harvest date and improve juice quality.