BREEDING FOR WATERLOGGING TOLERANCE IN SUGARCANE

Abstract

Excess moisture stress/waterlogging stress is one of the major constrains in sugarcane agriculture. About 2.2 Lakh hectares sugarcane is getting affected by waterlogging across the sugarcane growing states in the country. Though waterlogging management may offer relief to short term stress, a permanent solution can be realized only through imparting resistance/tolerance to varieties though conventional breeding or biotechnological means. Heavy rainfall and poor drainage of water from the soil, inundation by the overflowing rivers and excessive irrigation are the major causes of waterlogging. Waterlogging stress affect almost all stages of crop growth in sugarcane; germination, tillering, and grand growth period and thereby reducing the biomass yield and quality. Several genotypes including breeding lines, commercial hybrids, Saccharum species and distantly related genera are available as source of tolerance and the breeding approaches need to be directed towards developing varieties with waterlogging tolerance by conventional or biotechnological means. This paper reviews the response of sugarcane plant to waterlogging stress, the availability of gene pool for waterlogging tolerance, breeding approaches and selection parameters for developing waterlogging tolerant varieties.