Distribution of sugars in different parts of the fronds and selection of the suitable part for juice harvesting
As shown in Fig. 3, OPF is divided into four pieces namely W, X, Y and Z with each partition approximately 1.5 m in length. Each part of the frond was pressed through the sugarcane machine to obtain the juice. The juice from every part of the frond was sent for HPLC analysis to check for the sugar composition in the juice. Physically, the color of the juice changed from orange to green from the petiole to the leaflet part of the frond as could be seen in Fig. 2. This color variation could be due to the presence of chlorophyll at the tips of the frond which was more active in photosynthesis.