Strategies for Healthy Seed Cane Production and Fast Spread of Newly Released Varieties in U.P.

Sugarcane being a vegetatively propagated crop, tends to accumulate disease and pests during the course of cultivation. Therefore, production and supply of quality planting materials assumes greater importance. The use of healthy and vigorous seed plays a vital role in the cane development programme. Seed borne disease are responsible for considerable crop losses, this problem is a serious concern with vegetatively propagated crops like sugarcane, in which there may be either a progressive decline in production along with sugar recovery with increasing trends of diseases. Heat therapy among various agro-techniques has provided an effective method for the management of seed bone diseases like smut, grassy shoot, ratoon stunting, mosaic etc. The goal of heat therapy is killing of the pathogen at a specific temperature that is lethal. Integration of the seed production chain (nucleus, breeder, foundation and certified seeds) is of utmost importance in the case of sugarcane crop. Proper planning and monitoring. There is urgent need to revise the seed programme both quantitatively and qualitatively. Duplication should be avoided. There should be a drive to popularize new varieties and crash programmes for their production, and distribution should be developed on priority so that fast replacement of old varieties by newer one may possible.