New method to grow quality cane

For years, farmers have relied on the conventional stick seed cane as a source of planting material. However, this method has inherent inefficiencies which increase the cost of cane production. Using the entire stalk denies the farmers income because the cane that should be delivered to the miller for processing is utilised as planting seed. Research has been conducted to ensure that only the nodes on the stalk are extracted and propagated into seedlings known as the ‘speedlings’. How are they prepares? Before conventional seed cane is propagated and planted as a commercial sugar cane crop, it should receive hot water treatment (HWT) against the economically important plant pathogen, ratoon stunting disease. HWT involves submerging the seed cane in 50 degree centigrade water for two hours. This process is to free the seed cane from diseases, such as sugar cane mosaic virus, sugar cane smut, and the African sugar-cane borer. The use of speedlings as an alternative has numerous advantages.

Handling single-budded sets and their speedlings is far easier and more cost-efficient than working with whole seed cane stalks. Additionally, only a small quantity of mother seed is required to produce large numbers of transplant speedlings. The rapid multiplication of a sugar cane variety is possible, less material has to be moved from the speedling nursery to the seed cane nursery field and sugar cane speedlings from hot water-treated single-budded sets are a reliable foundation for disease-free seed cane.