ETHEPHON IMPROVES DROUGHT
TOLERANCE OF SUGARCANE
Experiments conducted from 1996 onwards (Liao
et al., 2003), demonstrated that the foliar spray of
400 mg.L "1 ethephon in October to November
improved the drought resistance of sugarcane plants
under severe water deficit condition, which retained
significantly more green leaves than the control that
recorded only 2.8 green leaves/plant in average after
long duration of dry weather from late September to
late December. In Guangxi, severe drought conditions
occurs quite often since September, and therefore
ethephon treatment could be helpful not only in
increasing the sucrose content but also to tide over
the prolonged drought situation. Under such
conditions ethephon treatment could increase both
cane yield and sucrose content in cane and finally
higher sugar productivity.