Sugar Tech DOI 10.

1007/s12355-012-0182-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Evaluation of Drought Tolerance Potential of Elite Genotypes and Progenies of Sugarcane (Saccharum sp. hybrids)
G. Hemaprabha Simon Swapna D. Leena Lavanya B. Sajitha S. Venkataramana

Received: 14 May 2012 / Accepted: 21 August 2012 Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2012

Abstract In order to identify drought tolerant genotypes and study the pattern of segregation for drought, 28 elite sugarcane hybrids and 165 progenies from a proven commercial cross (Co 740 9 Co 775) were evaluated for sugar yield attributes and biochemical parameters under normal and drought conditions. In the genotypes, higher reduction in drought in relation to the normal condition were observed for internode length (45.76 %), single cane weight (25.5 %), NMC (22.8 %), cane length (20.10 %) and sucrose content (18.73 %), while cane diameter (2.92 %), internode number (3.58 %) and Brix (-6.99 %) showed marginal variation. Similar reduction in cane height (35.05 %) and internode length (25.13 %) in the progenies indicated that cane length was more adversely affected by drought and the reduction was through shortening of internodes than reduction in internode number. These two easily scorable parameters in eld and showing signicant positive correlation under normal and drought conditions could serve as reliable characters in drought screening. Nitrate reductase activity showed reduction in the genotypes (39.11 %) and progenies (44.95 %), while proline accumulation and activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase almost doubled in the genotypes and progenies. The tolerant genotypes viz. Co 740, ISH 100, NS 83/247, Co 85019, Co 997 and Co 99008 could be utilized in crop improvement, while Co 419, Co 8021, Co 775 and Co 8368 were susceptible. Higher proportion of drought tolerant genotypes reected the genetic nature of sugarcane hybrids with genome contribution from the drought tolerant species S. spontaneum.. The population of 165 progenies was categorized into ve classes of varying levels of tolerance that followed a normal
G. Hemaprabha (&) S. Swapna D. L. Lavanya B. Sajitha S. Venkataramana Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore 641 007, India e-mail: hemaprabha@sify.com

distribution and hence its value as an immortal mapping population for genetical and molecular studies on drought tolerance. Keywords Sugarcane Genotypes Progenies Sugar yield Biochemical parameters Drought

Introduction The tillering and grand growth stages, known as the sugarcane formative phase, have been identied as the critical water demand period (Ramesh 2000). Formative phase is the period when 7080 % of cane yield is produced (Singh and Rao 1987) and drought during this period affected cane yield adversely (Venkataramana et al. 1986). Water relations and photosynthetic responses to water decit stress during this growth stage could therefore be useful in identifying drought tolerant genotypes (da Silva et al. 2007). Though breeding programmes in sugarcane with increased yield under normal conditions are attempted to improve drought tolerance, such studies have shown that varieties susceptible to drought wilted and showed reduced cane production early during drought, while tolerant varieties remained turgid and maintained near- optimum growth for longer time (Moore 1987), that necessitates identication of drought tolerant genotypes. The ability of plants to counteract stress conditions depends on the efciency and speed at which they recognize the stress, generate signal molecules, and activate stress- protective mechanisms (Pasternak et al. 2005). Exposure of plants to unfavorable environmental conditions can increase the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as singlet oxygen, superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical. Plants possess

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both enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms for scavenging of ROS. The enzymatic mechanisms are designated to minimize the concentration of superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide. The enzymes overproduced include superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase and glutathione-synthesizing enzymes (Sairam and Tyagi 2004). It has been revealed that the ability of plants to resist cellular damage could be enhanced by over expressing enzymes of antioxidant pathways in transgenic plants (Allen 1995); the most notable is overexpression of MnSOD in alfalfa (McKersie et al. 1996), which generated stress tolerance in the eld. Increased SOD activity has altered the expression of other genes associated with stress tolerance, and therefore the effect of the SOD is indirect. The present investigation was carried out to study the impact of drought on yield and physiological parameters on a set of 28 commercial clones and on a population developed from a proven cross combination for identifying drought tolerant genotypes and to study the segregation pattern for tolerance for taking up studies on drought responsive candidate genes in sugarcane.

crop was provided with 30 irrigations (30 9 5 acre cm = 1500 mm water) only. Thus stress is created by withholding 600 mm water during the critical demand period as followed in the drought treatment studies at the station (Naidu and Venkataramana 1989). Plant growth attributes such as number of millable canes (NMC), cane diameter, cane length, single cane weight, number of internodes, internode length and juice quality parameters including sucrose % and Brix % were analyzed during maturity phase (360 days after planting). The progenies numbering 165 from the cross Co 740 9 Co 775 were also planted under normal and drought conditions in plots of 3 m length with a seed rate of 20 two budded setts. The data were analysed statistically using standard protocols (Panse and Sukhatme 1954). Correlations for yield parameters under normal and drought conditions were worked out. Biochemical parameters Biochemical parameters such as nitrate reductase activity (NRA), proline content, SOD and peroxidase enzyme activities were estimated immediately after the termination of drought treatment from the leaf samples collected from each genotype grown under normal and droughted conditions. Nitrate reductase activity was assayed adopting the method of Hageman and Hucklesby (1971). The absorbance of pink colour solution was read at 540 nm. Standard curve was prepared by using known concentrations of sodium nitrite and the activity was expressed as lmol NO2 g-1 frwt-1 h-1. The proline content was estimated by the method of Bates et al. (1973) using one gram leaf tissue. The absorbance of the chromophore was read at 520 nm. L-Proline standard was used for quantication and the proline content in the sample was calculated using the formula: lg proline ml toluene 5 l mole of proline=g 115:5 g sample fr:wt: Superoxide dismutase activity was assayed by monitoring the inhibition of photoreduction of nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) according to the method described by Beauchamp and Fedovich (1971). One unit of SOD activity was dened as the amount of enzyme required to cause 50 % inhibition of the reduction of NBT as monitored at 560 nm. Peroxidase activity was assessed following the oxidation of O-dianisidine as described by Malik and Singh (1980). Absorbance was read at intervals of 30 s up to 3 min. Increase in absorbance was plotted against time and from the linear phase the change in absorbance per minute was read. Enzyme activity was expressed in terms of rate of increased absorbance per unit time per mg protein or tissue weight.

Materials and Methods Plant Materials A total of 28 elite sugarcane hybrid clones viz. Co 997, Co 86011, Co 1148, Co 89003, Co 7201, Co 86032, CoLk 8102, Co 86010, ISH 100, Co 85019, Co 86002, Co 85004, Co 87023, CoC 671, Co 97008, BO 91, Co 8021, Co 775, Co 88025, Co 2000-10, Co 99006, Co 94008, Co 98008, Co 8368, Co 99008, NS 83/247, Co 740, Co 419 were used for this study. The plant materials were obtained from the germplasm collection maintained at Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICAR), Coimbatore. Hybridization was carried out between two well known parents viz. Co 740 and Co 775 used in genetic improvement of the crop and progeny raised. From this 165 progenies were randomly selected for the study and are designated as P1P165. Drought Screening All the clones were evaluated for their drought tolerance ability under normal and drought conditions. Forty twobudded setts of each clone was planted in six meter rows spaced 90 cm apart. Drought stress treatment was imposed by way of withholding 12 irrigations (600 cm) during the formative growth phase (60150 days after planting), considered as the critical water demand for sugarcane. While normally irrigated crop received 42 irrigations (42 9 5 acre cm = 2100 mm water), the drought treated

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Results and Discussion Results of screening 28 elite hybrid derivatives of sugarcane (Saccharum sp.) and 165 progenies from the cross Co 740 9 Co 775 for eleven cane yield and juice quality characteristics and four biochemical parameters under water stressed and normal conditions are discussed. Cane Yield Parameters in Commercial Hybrids

Table 1 Genotypes with maximum reduction and minimum reduction for eight yield and quality parameters Sl. no. Sugar yield attributes 1 2 3 Brix Sucrose NMC Clones (reduction %) Maximum Co 419 (21.97) Co 419 (20.26) Co 955 (80.0) Co 419 (75.8) Co 95014 (54.7) 4 5 Cane diameter Cane length Minimum Co 85019 (-19.62) Co 740 (-13.16) CoC 671 (-10.60) Co 97008 (-27.27) ISH 100 (-21.05) Co 91010 (-20.93) Co 997 (-16.00) Co 8368 (39.39) Co 419 (35.48) Co 775 (32.14) CoLK 8102 (0.0) CoC 671 (2.63) BO 91 (3.14)

Co 98008 (20.46) Co 997 (-12.14)

Genotypes that showed maximum and minimum reduction for eight yield and quality parameters and percent reduction due to drought for these parameters are given in Tables 1 and 2 respectively. Number of millable canes was signicantly affected due to stress. At 300 days of plant growth, NMC ranged from 28 (in Co 7201) to 95 (in Co 997) in plants grown in normal conditions. Under drought stress, NMC ranged from eight (Co 419) to 66 (Co 86011). The maximum reduction was observed in Co 955 (80 %). Minimum reduction was noticed in Co 97008 (-27.27) and ISH 100 (21.05 %) due to their capacity to maintain growth processes under drought. Venkataramana et al. (1986) have observed a reduction in cane yield and number of millable canes due to drought treatment during formative phase. Singh and Reddy (1980) found that cane yield was affected most adversely when available soil moisture decreased from 60 to 20 % under tropical Indian conditions. The average cane diameter observed in the plants under normal conditions was 2.70 cm, ranging from 2.3 cm (Co 87023 and NS 83/147) to 3.1 cm (Co 97008). The average diameter under drought stress was 2.62 cm. Under drought stress, cane diameter ranged from 2.30 cm (Co 997, Co 99008, NS 83/147 and Co 86032) to 3.1 cm (Co 85019). The observation that the mean reduction in cane diameter due to drought stress was 2.92 % and the maximum reduction of 17.86 % (in Co 98008) indicated that cane diameter was not appreciably reduced due to drought. Cane height under normal condition ranged from 135 cm (Co 99006) to 195 cm (Co 2000-10). Under drought stress, range was 95 cm (Co 775) to 185 cm (CoC 671). The mean reduction in plant height due to drought stress over the control conditions was 20.17 %. Barring the genotypes viz. Co 2000-10, CoC 671, ISH 100 and Co 740 that showed higher values for height under normal and drought, water stress resulted in reduced plant height, though in varying magnitudes, showing reduction from 56.67 % in Co 86010 to 7.50 % in CoC 671. As cane length is an important parameter of nal sink size in sugarcane, any reduction in height would result in reduced commercial yield. This study revealed that drought led to drastic reduction in cane length than cane diameter. Earlier studies (Koehler et al. 1982) observed that stalk elongation as expressed by plant height in drought stressed plants was

Co 86032 (17.86) Co 1148 (-22.22)

Co 98008 (32.26) Co 97008 (2.94) Co 88025 (29.03) Co 86011 (3.45) Co 85019 (27.78) Co 740 (3.52) Co 7201 (27.59) Co 8021 (27.07) 6 Internode number Co 99008 (33.33) Co 86032 (-38.5) Co 419 (27.8) Co 85004 (-35.7) Co 86010 (26.7) Co 87023 (25.0) Co 775 (19.0) 7 Internode length Co 775 (62.5) Co 7201 (50.0) Co 8021 (50.0) Co 419 (50.0) Co 8368 (50.0) 8 Single cane weight Co 99008 (56.60) Co 85019 (-12.34) Co 419 (52.94) Co 8021 (52.31) Co 775 (33.33) Co 87023 (-3.03) Co 740 (-1.47) Co 88025 (0) Co 99006 (12.5) Co 98008 (16.7) ISH 100 (-30.0) Co 98008 (-22.2)

less than 80 % compared to the plants in well-watered plots. A strong and positive relationship between stalk elongation and water content was reported by Shih and Gascho (1980). The average single cane weight of matured canes was 0.97 kg in control and 0.72 kg in stress induced plants. In control conditions, single cane weight was the lowest in Co 86011 (0.52 kg) and maximum in Co 2000-10 and ISH 100 (1.46 kg). Under drought, Co 94008 and Co 7201 exhibited the lowest value of 0.38 kg and Co 85004 exhibited the highest cane weight of 1.12 kg per cane. Maximum reduction was observed in Co 99008 (56.60 %) and the lowest reduction in Co 86011 (-22.00 %). Single cane weight is a major component of cane yield and the drought treatment led to a mean reduction of 25.53 %.

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Sugar Tech Table 2 Percent reduction due to drought for eight yield and juice quality parameters in the genotypes NMC 22.87 C. diameter 2.92 C. length 20.17 Single cane weight 25.53 Internode length 45.76 Internode number 3.58 Brix % -6.99 Sucrose % 18.73

Number of genotypes with less than one kg cane weight was eleven under drought, while under normal conditions, only two clones viz., Co 85004 and CoLk 8102 had cane weight below one kg. Cane weight was drastically reduced by drought and that would lead to substantial yield decline. The number of internodes increased gradually from grand growth phase till maturation phase. In normal conditions, a minimum of twelve internodes/cane (ISH 100) was recorded and the maximum was 22 internodes/cane (Co 97008), against eleven internodes being the lowest (in Co 86010 and NS 83/147) and 24 the highest (Co 97008) under drought. The average length of internodes under control conditions ranged from ve cm (BO 91, Co 86010, CoLk 8102, Co 1148, and Co 88025) to ten cm (Co 85004, Co 87023). In drought stressed conditions, the internode length ranged from three cm (BO 91, CoLk 8102, Co 1148 and Co 775) to eight cm (Co 85004). The mean internode length in control plants was 7.3 cm, against 4.7 cm under drought. Comparing the effect of drought on internode number and length, internode number reduced from 33.35 (in Co 99008) to -38.46 % in Co 86032, with a few genotypes showing an increase under drought. Length of internodes recorded a mean reduction of 45.76 % and all the genotypes (except Co 88025) showed reduction in internodal length. This observation clearly showed that cane height under drought is determined by the length of internodes and not the number of internodes. In addition to these parameters, other contributing traits such as synchronized tillering, early canopy closure, rapid stem elongation and contribute to higher cane yield during drought and variation in these parameters therefore causes difference in cane yield (Venkataramana et al. 1986) and the present study is in agreement to these observations. Juice Quality Parameters in Commercial Hybrids

in CoC 671. Mean sucrose under normal and droughted plants was 20.72 and 18.13 % respectively, maximum reduction being 21.97 % in Co 86032, as compared to -19.62 % in Co 740. Reduction of more than two units in sucrose in the drought induced genotypes in relation to the normal indicated that sucrose content of the canes was more adversely affected by drought than total sugars and could be attributed to the inversion of sucrose into its hexose forms viz. glucose and fructose as an effect of drought. This could also be due to the differences in sucrose accumulation and translocation to the storage sink, as water supply determines the translocation efciency of assimilates. Lower juice sucrose may also be due to greater production of immature internodes and increase in juice weight following release of moisture stress. A similar reduction in juice quality was observed by Naidu and Venkataramana (1989). Evaluation of Progenies for Drought Screening of 165 progenies showed variation for NMC, cane height, cane diameter, internode number, internode length and Brix (Fig. 1). Number of progenies with NMC more than ten canes/3 metre rows was 68 under normal conditions that declined to 41 in drought treatment. While 109 progenies recorded above 150 cm of cane height under normal conditions, number of such clones declined to just four, showing the severity of drought in retarding the linear growth of cane. Among cane yield characters, cane length (35.05 %) due to reduction in internode length (25.13 %) exhibited maximum reduction under drought (Table 3) followed by NMC. Brix showed the least reduction among the characters studied. Correlation for characters under normal and drought conditions showed signicant
No of progenies
120 100 80 60 40 20 0

At 360 days, Brix values in normal conditions ranged from 19.0 % (Co 740) to 24.5 % (Co 88025 and Co 89003) and values in genotypes grown in drought stressed conditions ranged from 18.5 % (Co 419) to 24 % (CoC 671). The mean reduction in Brix due to drought stress was -6.99 % showing a marginal increase in the total sugars under drought. The minimum reduction observed was -20.26 % (Co 86032) and the maximum was 10.60 % (Co 2000-10). However, sucrose content in normal conditions ranged from 17.09 % (Co 87023) to 23.66 % (Co 98008) and under stress the range was 15.34 % in Co 419 to 20.46 %

0 to 5

18-20

15-18

20-22

2.0 to

11 to

16 to

100-

150-

<15.0

<100

>200

> 2.0

2.6 -

6 to

NMC

Brix

cane height (cm) cane diameter (cm)

Range values for four yield parameters Normal drought

Fig. 1 Proportion of progenies in the mapping population for four characters under normal and drought conditions

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Sugar Tech Table 3 Percent reduction for yield and quality characters and correlation between normal and drought conditions in the progenies of Co 740 Co 775 Character Mean % reduction due to drought Correlation
a

NMC 17.07 0.6767

a

Cane diameter 13.34 0.4178

Cane length 35.03 0.5947*

Internode number 14.86 0.5526*

Internode length 25.13 0.3087

Brix % 2.05 0.3798

Signicant positive correlation

association for NMC (0.6767), cane length (0.5947) and internode length (0.5526), while cane diameter and Brix showed nonsignicant positive association (Table 3), conrming the importance of quantifying NMC, cane length and single cane weight as important parameters to be considered in drought screening. Under normal conditions, all the traits showed a normal distribution with less proportion of progeny with the extreme low and high values, while under drought, cane height followed by cane diameter and NMC were skewed towards the lower ranges (Fig. 1). These progenies constituting an unselected population, the pattern of reduction in the characters studied reected the genetic nature of the crop due to the inuence of drought stress. The result conrmed that cane height may be taken as the most reliable parameter for screening under drought and selection for drought tolerant clones. Biochemical Parameters in the Genotypes and Progenies In light of earlier studies on plant responses to water stress (Hsiao 1973), the results of this study are summarized (Table 4) and conclusions drawn. Nitrate Reductase Activity Nitrate reductase, a rate-limiting enzyme in nitrogen assimilation, is more sensitive to water stress and is

inhibited when the water potential declines (Hsiao 1973; Bardzik et al. 1971). NRA varied from 34.12 lmol g fr wt-1 h-1 in Co 443 to 78.25 lmol g fr wt-1 h-1 in Co 92002 under normal and from 15.45 lmol g fr wt-1 h-1 in Co 419 to 57.12 lmol g fr wt-1 h-1 in Co 87023 in drought showing an average reduction of 39.11 % in the genotypes and 44.95 % reduction in the progenies. A decrease in leaf NRA in sugarcane varieties in response to water stress was reported earlier by Venkataramana et al. (1987). A similar reduction in NR activity was reported in sorghum (Teare et al. 1974), corn (Mattas and Pauli 1965), barley (Huffaker et al. 1970) and wheat (Smirnoff et al. 1985). The inhibition of enzyme activity by water stress was possibly due to reduced synthesis of enzyme or partial inactivation (Morilla et al. 1973) or stabilization during drought (Bardzik et al. 1971). Evidences of NRA and membrane thermostability associated with tolerance to water stress and its greater recovery following rehydration were already reported. Changes in NRA occurred when leaf water potential decreased as the enzyme got inactivated or rate of synthesis declined predominantly (Camila et al. 1973). It could be noted that the genotypes Co 740, Co 97008, Co 87023, Co 2000-10, Co 92002, Co 97008 and Co 95014 exhibited high NRA even under drought and are more tolerant to drought. Among the progenies the enzyme activity was high in P2, P32, P44, P57, P79 and P82, while P10 and P47 showed reduced activity due to the stress treatment.

Table 4 Biochemical parameters under normal (N) and drought suffered (D) genotypes and progenies from the cross Co 740 9 Co 775 Peroxidase N Genotypes Max Min Mean SD Progenies Max Min Mean SD 12.54 7.30 8.43 2.22 8.33 4.5 7.19 2.18 20.04 14.73 15.84 5.94 21.54 12.05 13.70 5.47 35.80 10.54 20.51 2.41 20.11 11.21 14.83 4.47 58.41 25.74 39.90 5.38 45.86 20.07 29.98 7.14 78.25 33.14 53.41 5.87 57.12 22.42 42.49 6.49 57.12 15.45 32.52 3.14 41.15 14.86 23.39 4.20 17.14 5.61 9.27 2.04 12.86 4.21 7.59 2.38 27.30 10.14 16.66 4.88 24.16 8.00 14.01 5.78 D Proline (lg g fr wt-1) N D NRA (lmol g fr wt-1 h-1) N D SOD (lmol g fr wt-1 h-1) N D

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Proline Accumulation In response to stress, proline accumulation increased by 94.53 % in the genotypes (from 16.28 lg g fr wt-1 in normal conditions to 33.92 lg g fr wt-1 under drought). Among the progenies, maximum proline content (45.86 lg g fr wt-1) was recorded in P26 and minimum (20.07 lg g fr wt-1) was noticed in P11. This observation is in accordance with the earlier reports in different crop species (Aspinal and Paleg 1981) and might be responsible to serve as nitrogen buffer and energy for recovery after the alleviation of stress. The higher magnitude of proline may help plants to tolerate dehydration by maintaining cell turgidity (Sivakumar et al. 1998). However, despite its role in osmotic adjustment proline has been considered as a symptom of injury (Irigoyen et al. 1992), resulting from excessive protein breakdown during water decits (Levitt 1980). Eight genotypes (Co 85019, Co 740, Co 97008, Co 775, CoV 92102, Co 92002, Co 88025 and Co 2000-10) accumulated more than 40 lg g fr wt-1 proline under drought and were rated as tolerant types. Similarly, progenies P2, P6, P21, P26, P27, P30, P32, P49, P57, P78 and P82 were found superior with respect to an enhanced proline accumulation, by an average of 102.15 %, under stress. ROS Enzymes (Superoxide Dismutase and Peroxidase) A regulated balance between oxygen production and destruction is required to maintain metabolic efciency and function under both optimal and stressed condition. In order to counteract the effect of ROS, plants produce enzymatic (SOD, peroxidase and catalase) and non-enzymatic antioxidants which are generally increased during drought stress. Superoxide Dismutase and Peroxidase The enzymes SOD and peroxidase, representing efcient scavenging machinery under drought, recorded increased activity of 79.72 and 92.98 %, respectively in the genotypes. In an identical manner, SOD activity almost doubled in progenies grown under drought (14.23 unit mg-1 protein/ minute from 7.8 unit mg-1 protein/minute in control) with an average increase of 84.58 %. Progenies P6, P10, P11, P21, P30, P32, P74 and P91 were found superior in respect of better protection through increased SOD activity. Peroxidase activity also showed a similar trend, increasing by 98 % (from 7.19 unit mg-1 protein/minute to 13.70 unit mg-1 protein/minute) under drought. Progeny 21 exhibited the maximum peroxidase activity and its potential to survive under drought. Increased activity of antioxidant enzymes has been observed in sugarcane (Sajitha 2009; Vasantha and

Rao 2004). The capacity to maintain high levels of antioxidants is a tolerant mechanism towards drought (Reddy et al. 2004). Oxidative stress generally increases the damage of lipids and cell membrane protein (Mano 2002) causing higher lipid peroxidation and membrane uidity leading to enhanced electrolyte leakage and membrane injury. The cell membrane injury was less in drought tolerant types which possessed high antioxidant enzyme activity. An excess ROS in cell normally resulted in the degradation of photosynthetic pigments, proteins, DNA and lipids that resulted in reduced photosynthesis (Sajitha 2009). Identication of Drought Tolerant and Susceptible Genotypes Clones with maximum and minimum reduction for eight yield parameters are given in Table 1. Accordingly Co 740, ISH 100, NS 83/247, Co 85019, Co 997 and Co 99008 were rated as tolerant as these clones did not show appreciable difference in normal and drought conditions for the component characters, while Co 419, Co 8021, Co 775 and Co 8368 showed reduction in more than two parameters that led to lower yield levels and were rated as susceptible. A higher proportion of drought resistant genotypes among the investigated material is a reection of genetic nature of sugarcane hybrids, which are backcross interspecic derivatives involving the hardy, highly drought tolerant species, S. spontaneum, as one of the parents. The drought resistant genotypes identied in the study could be utilized in breeding programmes to complementarily address the problem of drought while improving yield and quality. Characterization of Progenies for Drought Tolerance The population could be partitioned based on the yield parameters and additionally physiological characters provided conrmatory results on the level of drought tolerance. Based on percent reduction for each parameter in 165 progenies, those progenies with \5 % reduction was rated as tolerant, those with 510 % reduction as moderately tolerant, 1020 % reduction was rated as moderately susceptible, those with 2030 % reduction as susceptible and [30 % reduction was rated as highly susceptible. The proportion of progeny in each class followed a normal distribution (Fig. 2), showing that this could be an ideal population that can be immortalized, maintained and utilized for future research on drought resistance in sugarcane. The progenies with extreme high and low expression of specic characters served for identifying drought responsive candidate genes in sugarcane. Thus the results of the study have practical applications in identifying drought tolerant clones for drought resistance

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Percentage of progenies
40 30 20 10 0
Su sc ep tib le To le ra nt Su sc ep tib le Su sc ep tib le at el y To le ra nt

33 22 20 14 11

Frequency(%)

Fig. 2 Partitioning of the progenies of Co 740 9 Co 775 for drought tolerance

breeding programmes. The characters that can be easily scored in the eld and hence to be emphasized for identifying resistant clones could be cane height and length of internodes. The well characterized population was made available that would be an ideal material for genetical and molecular studies on drought and its component physiological or yield traits.

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