STUDY ON RATOON KEEPING OF SUGARCANE CROP AT VARIOUS HARVESTING DATES

This research experimentwas conducted at Sugarcane Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during crop season 2015-16. The objective of the experiment is toevaluate the ratooningability of different sugarcane clones at various harvesting dates of cane plant crop. The trial was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design(split plot arrangement)and replicated thrice. Five sugarcane clones i.e. S2003-US-633, S2006-US- 469, S2006-US-658, S2006-US-832 and one check variety HSF-240 were sown in February, 2012in main plots. The harvesting dates of plant crop viz.15th November, 15th December, 15th January, 15th February and 15th March were placed in sub-plots. The highest cane yield was recorded for S2006 US-832 (87.1t ha-1) as against the lowest in S2006 US-469 (68.5t ha-1). Among harvesting dates, the cane yield was maximum (91.9 t ha-1) for 15th February harvested plant crop and was lowest for ratoon kept on 15th December (60.1t ha-1). In interaction of these two factors, clone S2006-US-832 gave more cane yield (100.7 t ha-1) when plant crop was harvested on 15th February.