Yield indicators affected by ratoon stunting disease in sugarcane varieties planted in northern Argentina

ML Nanni¹, C Funes², C Easdale², M Capobianco³ and G Serino¹

¹Chacra Experimental Agrícola Santa Rosa. Colonia Santa Rosa, Salta, Argentina; mnanni@chacraexperimental.org

²Ledesma. Libertador General San Martín, Jujuy, Argentina

³Ingenio Río Grande. La Mendieta, Jujuy, Argentina

This field study assessed the impact of sugarcane ratoon stunting disease (RSD) infection on yield indicators of commercial varieties in Jujuy and Salta. Yield indicators were measured in randomly selected stems sampled from paired plots from a field trial previously planted with clean and RSD-infected seed cane of different disease intensities. RSD infection intensity was measured in each sampled stem. Yield indicators were compared between “clean” (no infected vascular bundles) and “infected” (more than five infected vascular bundles) stems. The weight of stems of variety CP 70-1133 was affected by RSD infection, whereas no effect was seen in the other varieties tested. Minimum infection intensities must be considered when planting field trials seeking to measure the damage of RSD.