International Journal of Plant & Soil Science

Jaggery is produced from sugarcane in addition to sugar. It plays a great role in rural economy of India. However, till date the jaggery producers are dependent on the sugarcane varieties which are released for those areas. The major factor that governing the consumer preference and marketing of jaggery is its external appearances i.e., colour, texture and storability which in turn depend on sugarcane varieties having high sucrose content, purity and low colloids. Hence this study was taken up to identify suitable sugarcane varieties for high yield and good quality jaggery. A study was conducted at Agricultural Research Station, Perumallapalle, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh, India to identify the sugarcane varieties most suitable for quality jaggery production. Ten promising sugarcane varieties were planted in randomized block design with three replications. All cultivation practices had followed equally for all varieties. The sugarcane varieties were harvested at proper maturity, crushed to extract juice and prepared jaggery. The jaggery was evaluated qualitatively for pH, EC, reducing sugars, ash content, sucrose, moisture, micronutrients viz., Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu and calculated net rendement value (NRV). The jaggery was found to have 70.6 to 86.9% sucrose, 5.12 to 6.80% of reducing sugars, 3.52 to 4.32% of ash, 5.0 to 6.1% of moisture, 9.58 to 11.20 % of recovery, 49.85 to 67.70 of NRV values, 98.6 to 114.1 kg jaggery t^-1 of sugarcane. The jaggery prepared from 2012 T 115 had recorded significantly the highest jaggery yield (114.1 kg t^-1 of cane), high recovery percent (11.20%) and high NRV (67.70) than other varieties. The varieties viz., 2012 T 183, 2012 T 88 and 2012 T 53 were produced Grade 1 jaggery with high NRV as per Indian standards. The variety 2012 T 115 had higher Fe and Mn (12.15 and 0.38 mg of Fe and Mn/ 100g of jaggery, respectively).