Sugarcane Seed Sett Management

Sugarcane is a good source of income for farming community as it provides economic benefits both from main product as well as it's by - product. Sugar, Jaggery & Syrup happen to be it's main products where as molasses happen to be by product. Molasses are used for extraction of alcohol & stem residue, after juice extraction, is used for either fuel purpose or finds use in paper industry. Despite such a lucrative proposition, area under sugarcane is on continuous decline. This phenomenon is a bad omen for all stakeholders, i.e., sugarcane producer, sugar mill owner and sugar industry as a whole. It may be attributed to selection of poor sugarcane varieties or use commercial cane as seed cane or seed cane setts, as the result of it is rapid multiplication of many diseases like red - rot, wilt & smut. The book, therefore, has been authored to help sugarcane farmers select the improved varieties as per their agro-climatic field conditions. This is important as specific characteristic features of each variety provides different yield potential of different varieties. Seed is usually required in large quantity, so it would be prudent for farmers to grow seeds by themselves,if possible.