Indian researchers start commercializing super cane variety with 160 tons/ha yields

In India, the Hindu newspaper reports Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, together with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, have developed a new sugarcane variety called punnagai that is seeing high demand for its first planting season next year. The variety doesn’t flower and can see yields of 160 metric tons per hectare, in addition to being drought-resistance and resilient to red-rot disease. Already sugar mills have ordered 160 tons of seed cane in hopes of quickly boosting production to allow for increased ethanol production.