Saccharum edule Hassk. an Under-exploited Germplasm Resource of Sugarcane

Abstract

The genus Saccharum L. has six species of which S. edule Hassk. is being cultivated from New Guinea to Fiji for its edible aborted inflorescence. The germplasm maintained at Sugarcane Breeding Institute- Research Centre, Kannur, Kerala houses 17 accessions of S. edule and these accessions were characterized for 30 qualitative and 10 quantitative morphological traits. There was considerable variability among these accessions for the characters studied. The yield evaluation of regularly flowering clones in a replicated trial showed significant variation for yield attributes of edible inflorescence and the clones, namely, IJ 76-338, IJ 76-360 and IJ 76-552 were identified with potential for commercial cultivation.