Abstract

Effect of drought condition greatly influence to growth and yield of sugarcane. Inducted mutant sugarcane can increase genetic variability in plants and create new genetics including drought tolerant characteristic. Aims of the current study were to evaluate and identify the selected 135 mutant sugarcane clones with drought tolerance, from in vitro condition of the prior experiment under drought conditions, in greenhouse. The Khon khen 3 (KK3) was used as checked variety. This experiment was arranged in an augmented design. The sugarcanes were tested and evaluated under artificial drought condition in greenhouse. The sugarcanes were normally irrigated for 2 months after planting (MAP). After 2 mouths, the irrigation was stopped until the soil moisture was declined to 20 % of field capacity. After that, normal irrigation was applied again at the filed capacity. The drought condition was applied to the mutant twice, continuously. The results showed that 14 clones consisting of KuMT3 b6-1, KuMT2 b6-5, KuMT2 b6-9, KuMT3 b6-11, KuMT1 b13-1, KuMT3 b13-2, KuMT1 b13-5, KuMT2 b13-6, KuMT3 b13-7, KuMT2 b13-11, KuMT1 b15-5, KuMT2 b15-6, KuMT3 b15-7 และ KuMT2 b15-9 were identified as drought tolerant clones. The average leaves damage score of the 14 clones was 3.07 which lower than KK3 (6.83 point). These results indicated that the 14 mutant clones were drought tolerance and possible to use as germplasm for future sugarcane breeding programs.