Agronomic performance of sugarcane families in response to water stress

Abstract WATER deficit is one of the major factors limiting the production of sugarcane, especially in areas where there is a prolonged period of water deficiency, such as the West Central Brazilian region. One way to overcome this problem is to plant varieties that are resistant or tolerant to water stress. An experiment was performed at the Jalles Machado Sugar Mill, located near Goianésia, Goiás State, Brazil, to evaluate the agronomic performance of several sugarcane families. A comparative analysis was carried out among the families under two water regimes, one under regular environmental conditions and another under monthly irrigations during the period of water deficiency. The evaluated material consisted of 25 progenies planted in a factorial design with three replications with 20 plants each. The first ratoon crop was evaluated for four yield components: stalk height, stalk diameter, stalk number and Brix. Stalk number, stalk diameter and stalk height were influenced by water stress conditions during the initial growth phase. For stalk diameter and Brix, water regime had no effect on the average expression of the characters during the growth phase. Some families had high values for stalk diameter, stalk number and stalk height under water stress conditions. These findings provided a good basis for the selection of sugarcane clones with desirable stalk diameter, stalk number and stalk height under drought conditions. It was possible to detect parents with an ability to produce progenies that maintain a good expression for one or more agronomic traits under restricted water availability