SUGARCANE (Saccharum spp. Hybrid)

SEED CANE STANDARDS

Age of the seed cane crop at harvest for seed purpose shall be 6 to 8 months and 8 to 10 months for the sowing in 

tropics and respectively, seed cane material undamaged and reasonably clean.

Each node of seed cane shall bear on one sound bud.  The number of nodes without sound bud shall not exceed 5 % (by number) 

of the total number of buds per seed cane.

The number of buds, which have swollen up or have projected beyond one centimeter from the rind surface,  shall not exceed 5% 

(by number)  of the total number of buds.

I.     Application and Amplification of General Seed Certification Standards

        The General Seed Certification Standards are basic and together with the following specific standards

        constitute the standards for certification of sugarcane seed cane.

        The certified classes shall be produced from seed canes and / or meri-clones whose sources - and identity may be assured and 

        approved by the Certification Agency.

II.   Land Requirements:

      (i)     A Seed crop of sugarcane shall not be eligible for certification if planted on land on which sugarcane was grown in the previous 

              season.

      (ii)    Land/seed crop shall be kept free from sugarcane residues and drainage from other sugarcane fields.

II.      Heat Treatment (As Prescribed)

 Foundation Stage (I) shall be raised from heat-treated seed cane.

III.    Field Inspection:

        A minimum of three inspection shall be made as under:

Stage-I     The first inspection shall be made at 45-60 days after planting in order verify isolation and detect volunteer plants,

                designated diseases and pests and other relevant factors.

Stage-II    The second inspection shall be made at 120-130 days after planting to verify off-type, designated diseases and pests 

                 and other relevant factors.

Stage-III   The third inspection shall be made 15 days prior to the harvesting of seed canes to verify the age of cane, off-types, 

                 designated diseases and pests and other relevant factors.

IV. Field Standards:

A. General Requirements

Isolation:    The sugarcane seed production fields shall be isolated from other fields with a minimum distance of 5 m to avoid 

mechanical mixture of other varieties.

B. Specific Requirements

*    Subject to immediate rouging of the whole clump

**  In areas where the presence of the pest has not been recorded.

#    It gives around 10% affected buds.

+    It gives around 0.5% affected buds.

Designated Diseases shall be:

1.    Red rot (Glomerella tucumanensis(Speg.) Arx& Muller)

2.    Smut (Ustilago scitaminea (Sydow)

3.    Willt (Cephalosporium saccgaru Butler)

4.    Grassy shoot disease (Mycopplasma-like-organism)

5.    Leaf scald (Xanthomonas albilineans (Ashby)Dowson

Designated Insect-Pests shall be:

1.    Top bores (Scirpophaga excerptalis Wlk.)

2.    Internode borer (Chilo sacchariphagus indicus Kapur)

3.    Stalk borer (Chilo auricilius Ddgn.)

4.    Plassey borer (Chilo tumidicostalis (Hmpsn.)

5.    Gurdaspur borer (Acogpma steniellus Hmpsn.)

6.    Scale insect (Melanaspis glomerata Green.)

7.    Mealy bug. (Sacchariphagus sacchari Cockerell)

Note:

1.    All off-types and diseases plants shall be rouged out along with roots and destroyed.

2.    Maximum permissible limits for the stripping of dry foliage shall be 2.0%.

3.    The crop should not have more than 10% lodged canes.

-      Seed canes should not have nodal roots.  In waterlogged areas, relaxation may be given up to a

       maximum of 5%.

-      Moisture in seed cane should not be less than 65% on wet weight basis.

-      Germinability of buds should not be less than 85%.

-      Physical purity of seed should be 98%.

-      Genetic purity of seed should be 100%.