The Sugarcane Research Station (SRS) of Acharya N.G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) here is in the process of releasing seven new varieties of the crop. They are currently in adaptive trials on a 40-acre demonstration farm of the SRS.
Of the seven varieties being tested by both SRS and farmers, four will be of 10 month duration and the others 12 months. They are called ‘early’ and ‘mid-late’ varieties, which have been bred at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)’s Sugarcane Breeding Institute at Coimbatore.
SRS Principal Scientist K. Jhansi told The Hindu that six varieties were released in 14 years and the ones under trial would take about a year or two for release for commercial cultivation. They would be helpful in marginally increasing the recovery of sugar which is at 9.64 per cent per tonne of cane crushed in Andhra Pradesh compared to 10.03 per cent at the national level.
Nothing much can be done to improve sugar recovery because of the type of climate prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. Recovery is as high as 13 per cent, according to sugar industry sources, in the north, particularly Uttar Pradesh.
The new varieties under field trials can withstand red rot disease which had been a bane for sugarcane farmers in the State. All the upcoming new varieties have so far performed well in the conditions in which they are grown.
Ms. Jhansi said the varieties that SRS has so far developed had a good impact in Krishna-Godavari zone registering an average cane yield of 30 to 40 tonnes per acre (spread across nearly 50,000 acres) and sugar recovery ranging from nine to 11 per cent.
Climatic conditions have in the recent years brought down the extent of sugar recovery and pest attacks are also to be blamed for the loss being incurred by farmers. ‘Vuyyuru clones’ have won large acceptance in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
