With reference to the current trends in the cultivation of sugarcane in India, consider the following statements:
- 1.A substantial saving in seed material is made when ‘bud chip settlings’ are raised in a nursery and transplanted in the main field.
- 2.When direct planting of setts is done, the germination percentage is better with single-budded setts as compared to setts with many buds.
- 3.If bad weather conditions prevail when setts are directly planted, single-budded setts have better survival as compared to large setts.
- 4.Sugarcane can be cultivated using settlings prepared from tissue culture.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) 1 and 4 only
Statements 1 and 4 are correct: bud-chip nursery seedlings save a lot of seed cane, and tissue-culture plantlets can be used to raise sugarcane. Statements 2 and 3 are wrong because single-budded setts are the weaker option, with poorer germination and survival than larger setts.
- ✓ 1. ICAR-SBI says sugarcane needs nearly 7.5 to 10 tonnes of seed cane per hectare and calls planting of pre-germinated settlings the best answer for seed multiplication. In the bud-chip method only a bud with a small piece of stem is cut and raised in a nursery, so far less seed cane is needed.
- ✗ 2. Setts with several buds germinate better than single-budded setts, because the extra buds and reserves give a better chance of sprouting.
- ✗ 3. In bad weather, larger setts survive better, since they hold more food and moisture; single-budded setts are the more fragile.
- ✓ 4. ICAR-SBI produces virus-free tissue-culture seedlings of sugarcane and supplies them to sugar factories and farmers, so sugarcane can be raised from such seedlings.
Remember · Sugarcane seed saving: bud-chip and tissue-culture settlings use far less seed cane; single-budded direct planting is riskier than multi-budded setts.
Sources
- ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Technologies for Commercialization (Quatro single bud cutter; settling transplanting) ↗ · reference work “Planting of sugarcane crop with pre germinated settling plants is the best solution for improving seed health, seed multiplication ratio and uniformity in plant population, which ultimately assures higher sustainable crop yield.”
- ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Research: healthy sugarcane seed nursery programme (tissue culture seedlings) ↗ · reference work “Virus free tissue culture seedlings were supplied to private and co-operative sugar factories of Tamil Nadu, sugar factories from other states, breeder seed production and progressive farmers.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·