Impact of staling on cane quality and sprouting, and the possibility of selecting for staling-resistant ability

Yunnan is the second largest sugarcane growing area in China. Due to the rugged nature of the province, there is usually a lag between harvest and replanting and milling. Staling of cane invariably leads to losses for both cane farmers and sugar millers. A reasonable way to avoid the losses is to select cultivars with good staling-resistance. In this study five sugarcane genotypes were staled for 0, 7, 14 or 21 days. Parameters describing characters of quality deterioration and sprouting were elicited with dynamic technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (DTOPSIS) to evaluate the staling-resistance of the five genotypes. Findings indicated that parameters varied not only with length of staling but also with genotype, which suggested the possibility of selecting for Staling. resistant ability in sugarcane. The score calculated by DTOPSIS indicated the order of staling-resistance among the genotypes was C266-70 > CYZ04-320 > CYZ04-724 > CYZ05-301 > CYZ05-427. As far as the staling-resistance is concerned, C266-70 and CYZ04-320 were identified as most suitable for the Yunnan Province and similar landforms.