The inheritance of ash in juice from sugar cane

Abstract

Ash per cent juice data were obtained for varieties within 97 crosses in original seedlings in 1979 and for varieties within 86 crosses from three factorial polycrosses in 1981, on the Bundaberg Sugar Experiment Station. The data showed that many crosses had higher ash levels than the standard variety Q87. In experiment I, Q87 had slightly lower ash levels than Q109 and Q111, and all three were significantly lower than Q110. It was found for experiments I and II, that 65 and 54 per cent respectively of the phenotypic variation was associated with genetic characters. As 95 per cent of genetic variation was additive, the prospects for breeding lower ash canes from low ash parents are very good. However, selections based on ash assessment may reject many varieties with other desirable agronomic characters. Negative correlations existed between ash per cent juice and Brix. However, the correlations were too low to assume that selection for high Brix canes would result in selections with lower ash levels.