Effect of plant growth regulators (PGRS) on germination, yield and quality of sugarcane in sub-tropical India

Sugarcane is commercially propagated through stalk cutting (setts) by which only 30–50% germination (Gm%) is attained; which increases cost of cultivation because high quantity setts are required to raise the crop. Low and slow sett's germination affect shoot's vigor and ultimately the number and weight of millable canes, also. So for by keeping this in mind, field experiments were conducted for three years (2015–18) at two locations i.e. Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station Faridkot and Kapurthala to assess the effect of “ sett soaking in ethrel solution” alone and combined with “foliar application of gibberellic acid” on crop germination, yield and yield attributes of sugarcane. The pooled analyses over years and locations revealed that “overnight setts soaking in 100 ppm ethrel solution” at 50 days after planting (DAP) resulted into highest germination % i.e. 42.8% and 47.4% at Faridkot and Kapurthala, respectively. In addition to higher Gm%, “overnight setts soaking in 100 ppm ethrel solution + foliar application of Gibberellic acid” @ 35 ppm at 90,120 and 150 DAP resulted into the highest cane yield of 95 tha⁻¹ at Faridkot and 99.7 tha⁻¹ at Kapurthala. An improvement in yield attributes like cane length (248 cm and 251 cm), cane diameter (2.90 cm and 2.55 cm), single cane weight (1731g and 1379 g) and number of millable cane (100.5×10³ ha⁻¹ and 108.6×10³ ha⁻¹) was also observed at Faridkot and Kapurthala, respectively.