Branching in sugarcane stalk: A rare morphologic deviation

Occurrence of multiple buds on the same internode in sugarcane has been reported in the literature but after the presence of multiple buds, independent cane growth has not been reported yet. The present paper illustrates about a field observation where a unique morphologic deviation was observed in ratoon crop of sugarcane variety CoS 96268 during the crop season 2008-09. In this plant, 7th internode, above the field, had two buds, the 8th internode also had two buds but a constriction appeared to divide the internode into two, of course not well defined, halves. This division, however, became more prominent in the 9thvg internode. Above this internode cane bifurcated and the two stalks (branches) grew independently and produced internodes in a normal fashion.