Effect of Temperature, Humidity and Light Intensity on Micropropagated Sugarcane ( Saccharum Species Hybrid) Genotypes

Sugarcane (Saccharum species hybrid) is an important cash crop and is the major source of sugar worldwide. Very little attempt has been made on optimization of conditions like temperature, humidity and light intensity for acclimatization of regenerated plantlets through micropropagation for rapid and high multiplication of disease-free planting material. In this regard, we have carried out an experiment with an objective to know the effect of temperature, light intensity and humidity on hardening of 16 elite sugarcane genotypes under three different hardening conditions, viz. single shade net, double shade net and polyhouse conditions. The single shade net condition was found optimum for shoot morphological and root characteristics in 13 tested sugarcane genotypes. However, the double shade net condition was found optimum, in genotypes VCF 0517, CoVC 07-06-05 and CoVC 07-34-05. The average temperature 28.3 °C, relative humidity 63.20% and light intensity (7522 lx) found to be best for 13 sugarcane genotypes for their shoot morphological and root characteristics under singe shade net within a short period of time.