SUCROSE SYNTHESIS AND ACCUMULATION IN CONTRASTING COMMERCIAL HYBRIDS OF SUGARCANE

Sugarcane has been bred with a focus of obtaining high sugar varieties. Identifying associated traits assumes importance for genetic manipulation. Enzymes of sucrose metabolism were researched and reviewed over decades. In the present study sucrose content in individual internodes, and related enzymes viz., invertases (acid and neutral) and sucrose phosphate synthetase (SPS) were assessed. Sucrose content ranged from 119 mg/g to 432 mg/g, while acid invertase (AI) ranged from 1.35 μ mol g-1 h-1 to 52.3 μ mol g-1 h-1 Enzymes SPS did not show any specific trend among different internodes; however the SPS/AI ratio showed significant correlation with sucrose content. Significant differences were observed between high and low sugar varieties with regard to the parameters studied.