Nitrogen is one of the most important mineral nutrients required for plant development especially for tillering and vegetative growth. Management of nitrogenous fertilizers poses a significant challenge in sugarcane cropping system as the efficiency of utilization of nitrogen is very poor. Improving the Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) is imperative to achieve the maximum cane yield with less N inputs. In this study, 32diverse sugarcane pre-breeding genetic stocks were evaluated with two levels of nitrogen (N0 and N100) for agronomic, juice quality, biomass traits and Agronomic Nitrogen Use Efficiency (AgNUE). Significant genetic variability was observed among levels of nitrogen and genotypes. Wider differences were observed between phenotypic coefficient of variability (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variability(GCV) indicating the role of nitrogen levels (N0 and N100) in trait expression. Maximum agronomic efficiency was observed for interspecific hybrids of Saccharum spontaneum ( kg of dry biomass/kg of nitrogen) followed by intergeneric hybrid derivatives of Erianthus procerus ( kg of dry biomass/kg of nitrogen).The study also revealed the early generation hybrids of S. spontaneum and E. procerus recorded maximum AgNUE could be the potential sources for developing nitrogen efficient varieties in sugarcane. Therefore, these genotypes further considered for utilization in crop improvement programmes for development of elite breeding pools for nitrogen use efficiency. | Genetic variability for nitrogen use efficiency in interspecific and intergeneric hybrids of sugarcane
