The productivity and sucrose content on dry land sugarcane influenced by inter-row spacing and transplanting seedlings

Planting sugarcane on dry land is susceptible to drought stress during the vegetative phase thereby reducing productivity. The objectives of this study were to examine the growth and yield of sugarcane transplanting seedling and ascertain their physiological-growth-traits to determine the productivity and sucrose content. The experiment design was a completely randomized block design with four replicates. The treatments were: five varieties and four inter-row spacing of single bud chips seedlings. The study was conducted in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. The parameters were evaluated using analysis of variance followed by Duncan's multiple range test and analyzed using step-wise regression. The application of 60cm inter-row spacing increase the yield of millable cane by 101.7 tons/ha and sucrose content compared with control, respectively by 38.8%, 5.8%. The net photosynthesis (Pn) of nine months, leaf area index of four months, specific leaf weight of five months, the proline content of nine months and net assimilation rate at the age of six months determined the productivity. The physiological determinants of sugar content were Pn at the age of nine months, stem brix, even distribution of brix on the stem nodes, and level of chlorophyll.