Variability in Early Varieties of Sugarcane in Plant and Ratoon Crops⁺

In early maturing sugarcane varieties of sub-tropical zone, heritability value, expected genetic advance, genetic co-efficient of variation and the magnitude of σ²_g. σ²_gl and σ²_c were studied for ten characters in plant and ratoon crops in two locations in a replicated trial. Varietal differences are highly significant for all the characters. Heritability value was high for the characters studied ranging from 83.16% to 96.24% in plant crop and 74.39% to 91.93% in ratoon crop. Maximum genetic advance is possible in case of yield and G. G. S. per plot. In almost all the traits, σ²_g is comparatively larger than other variances both in plant and ratoon crop. σ²_gl is smaller than σ²_g and σ²_e for all characters in plant crop, while in ratoon crop it has the smallest magnitude in case of most of the characters. Significance of these results regarding selection programme has been discussed.