Study of anatomical parameters of leaf and brix content of some promising commercial Indian varieties of sugarcane

The structural and quantitative diversity of Kranz anatomy of nineteen Indian varieties of sugarcane was studied in relation to brix content or yield of sugar. The nature and distribution of Kranz tissue and types of vascular bundle in the leaf blade have also been described and discussed. In hand made transverse sections of leaf blade of sugarcane varieties, two different sizes (large and small) of vascular bundles were found. The large vascular bundles were characterized by the presence of metaxylem vessels on the either side of protoxylem. The small vascular bundles entirely consist of metaxylem but lack of protoxylem. Variation of Brix content of the basal, middle and top part of Culm of nineteen varieties was also observed. Statistically, average Brix content was positively correlated with the total area of the photosynthetic cells as well as bundle sheath cells and the linear regression curve followed the straight line.