Sugarcane

Sugarcane
Scientific name: Saccharum officinarum L.
Bangla/ Local names: Aakh, Ikkhu, Gendari, Hussel, Kajuli, Kusa, Kushiar.
Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)
Kingdom | Plantae |
Division | Magnoliophyta |
Class | Liliopsida |
Subclass | Commelinidae |
Order | Poales |
Family | Poaceae |
Genus | Saccharum |
Species | S. officinarum |
Botanical Description of Sugarcane
Habit: Sugarcane is a perennial herb.
Root: Root system develops into an extensive system with thin and thick roots. The thin roots occur in the top layer of the soil, up to 50cm deep, spreading about 2 m from the plant. Thicker roots may grow downwards up to 6 m deep
Stem: The stems, 3-5 m tall and 1.3-5 cm thick, are divided into a number of joints.
Leaf: The alternating leaves arise from the nodes, in two rows on either side of the stem. They consist of a leaf-sheath and elongated leaf blade with a thick mid-rib up to 2 m long and 4-10 cm wide with sharp margins; Leaf blades linear-lanceolate, 100-200 x 3-6 cm, apex, acuminate, base narrow, glabrous, margin scabrous, Ligules very short, membranous, ciliate, sheaths glabrous or pubescent, older ones deciduous, often auricled with prominent auricular hairs, collar large, prominent, glabrous or appressed pubescent.
Inflorescence: The inflorescence is an open-branched panicle in which there are some hundreds of tiny spikelets. Lower florets empty, upper florets bisexual.
Flower: Flowers are bisexual. However, flowering is considered as an undesirable characteristic in commercial cane crop because it stops vegetative growth and development of sugar-storage capacity.
Perianth: Lodicules usually eciliate, rarely with a few cilia, variable in shape, ranging from cuneate-bilobed to crenate-truncate.
Androecium: Anthers 1.0-1.8 mm long, yellow.
Gynoecium: Stigmas purple.
Fruit: The fruit is a small caryopsis, about 1 mm long
Chromosome number: 2n=80
Economic Importance: Sugarcane is an economically important sugar crop. The main product of sugarcane is sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. Sucrose, extracted and purified in specialized mill factories, is used as raw material in human food industries or is fermented to produce ethanol.
Sugar and molasses are produced from stem juice of the plant. Stem juice is useful in fatigue thirst, leprosy, intestinal troubles, anemia and diarrhea. Industrial ethyl alcohol is manufactured from molasses. Molasses is widely used as a stock feed. Cane tops are fed to livestock. Bagasse, the fibrous residue left after the extraction of the juice from the sugarcane, is used in manufacture of paper, cardboard, fiber board and wall board.
Table 1. Sugarcane varieties developed by Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna, Bangladesh
Serial Number | Name of variety | Year of Release | Growing season | Average yield (t ha-1) |
1 | Isd 1/53 (Nota Kushir) | 1967 | Year round | 74 |
2 | Isd 2/54 | 1967 | Year round | 79 |
3 | Isd 3/54 | 1974 | Year round | 67 |
4 | Isd 4/55 | – | Year round | 86.45 |
5 | Isd 6/66 | – | Year round | 66 |
6 | Isd 7/57 | – | Year round | 61 |
7 | Isd 8/57 | – | Year round | 61 |
8 | Isd 10/54 | – | Year round | 74 |
9 | Isd 11/58 | – | Year round | 66 |
10 | Isd 12/58 | – | Year round | 70 |
11 | Isd 13/58 | – | Year round | 81 |
12 | Isd 14/60 | – | Year round | 81 |
13 | Isd 15 | 1974 | Year round | 86 |
14 | Isd 16 | 1981 | Year round | 86 |
15 | Isd 17 | – | Year round | 85 |
16 | L-Jaba C | 1982 | Year round | 79 |
17 | Isd 18 | 1988 | Year round | 85 |
18 | Isd 19 | 1988 | Year round | 83 |
19 | Isd 20 | 1990 | Year round | 72 |
20 | Isd 21 | 1990 | Year round | 71 |
21 | Isd 22 | 1993 | Year round | 65 |
22 | Isd 24 | 1993 | Year round | 49 |
23 | Isd 25 | 1993 | Year round | 61 |
24 | Isd 26 | 1995 | Year round | 59 |
25 | Isd 27 | 1995 | Year round | 69 |
26 | Isd 28 | 1996 | Year round | 78 |
27 | Isd 29 | 1998 | Year round | 70 |
28 | Isd 30 | 2000 | Year round | 77 |
29 | Isd 31 | 2000 | Year round | 90 |
30 | Isd 32 | 2002 | Year round | 104 |
31 | Isd 33 | 2002 | Year round | 98 |
32 | Isd 34 | 2002 | Year round | 93 |
33 | Isd 35 | 2003 | Year round | 94 |
34 | Isd 36 | 2003 | Year round | 88 |
35 | Isd 37 | 2006 | Year round | 91 |
36 | Isd 38 | 2007 | Year round | 113 |
37 | Isd 39 | 2009 | Year round | 103 |
38 | Isd 40 | 2009 | Year round | 110 |
39 | BSRI Akh 41 | 2012 | Year round | 139.55 |
40 | BSRI Akh 42 | 2014 | Year round | 169.57 |
41 | BSRI Akh 43 | 2014 | Year round | 118.36 |
42 | BSRI Akh 44 | 2014 | Year round | 106.91 |
43 | BSRI Akh 45 | Year round | 105 | |
44 | BSRI Akh 46 | Year round | 103 | |