EFFECT OF SEEDLINGS AGES IN PHENOTYPES TRAITS FOR SUGARCANE Saccharum officinarum L. varieties

Abstract

A research study was conducted on sugarcane crop in the fields of the College of Agriculture, University of Diyala during the 2018 season to obtain three seedlings ages (30, 45 and 60 days) for three American varieties (CP72- 2086, CP89-2143 and CP81-325) in order to determine the effect of seedlings ages on some phenotypes of sugarcane varieties. The 30 days age of cultivar CP89-2143 recorded the highest percentage of germination of buds by 99.8% compared to all other treatments. The 60 days age of cultivar CP89-2143 recorded the highest root length of 16.6 cm, while the 30 days of all cultivars recorded the least values of 9.2, 10.6 and 9.5 cm for the varieties CP72-2086, CP89-2143 and CP81-325 respectively. The 60 days age for CP89-2143 recorded the highest value in stem length of 11.0 cm, while the 30 days age for all varieties recorded of 8.6, 7.8 and 8.2 cm for the CP72-2086, CP89-2143 and CP81-325 respectively. The .71 days age for CP89-2143 recorded the highest mean of 7.3 leaves, while 30 days age for all varieties recorded the highest mean reached 5.0, 5.3 and 5.3 leaves of varieties CP72-2086, CP89-2143 and CP81- 325, respectively. The CP89-2143 variety for all ages recorded the highest value of 2.3, 2.7 and 2.7 tillers respectively , while CP81-325 variety for all ages recorded the highest value reached 1.0 tillers for each one of them. The 54 days age for CP89-2143 recorded the highest mean of dry weight reached 22.7 gm, while 30 days age for all varieties recorded the least value reached 15.3, 16.5 and 14.0 gm for the CP72-2086, CP89-2143 and CP81-325 respectively.