Influence of de-topping on cane and sugar yields of phil 2006-2289 and phil 2006-1899

De-topping or cutting the upper portion of the stalk before harvest is a practice among farmers to avail themselves of planting materials for the current planting season or as animal feed. This practice, however, could affect yields when the cane is not immediately milled. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the influence of de-topping on the cane and sugar yields of Phil 2006-2289 and Phil 2006-1899 when milled at 0, 2, 4, 6 & 8 days after cutting. The experiment was laid out under sandy loam condition and was conducted from December 2018 to March 2020, using factorial in RCBD. Between the two tested varieties, Phil 06-1899 produced significantly higher cane and sugar yield of 127.48 tons/hectare (TC/Ha) and 248.24 (bags of sugar/hectare) LKg/ha, respectively, and significantly higher sucrose content of 2.09LKg/TC. Cut-to-crush delay of 0, 2 and 4 days after de-topping produced the highest cane and sugar yields. On sucrose content, only the cut-to-crush delay of 2 days after de-topping produced the highest LKg/TC of 2.22. This could be inferred that2 days after de-topping is the ideal number of delay days for milling when the optimum polarization or concentration of sucrose content of cane juice is achieved, and stalks had not yet deteriorated.