Adaptive Responses of Sugarcane to Waterlogging Stress: An Over View

Water logging is a widespread phenomenon that drastically reduces the growth and survival of sugarcane, which leads to 15–45 % reduction in cane yield. The extent of injury due to water logging depends upon the genotypes, environmental conditions, stage of development and the duration of stress. Improved understanding of the physiological responses of sugarcane to these conditions could help to develop strategies to sustain high yields under waterlogging situation. Response of sugarcane for growth, physiology, biochemical, yield and quality were studied under short term and long term waterlogging conditions in several sugarcane growing countries. Studies indicate that, water logging stress inhibits the leaf and stem expansion, tiller production and causes changes in orientation of shoot extension. Aerial roots that develop by the influence of flood, not only help in maintaining root activity under flooding conditions by supplying necessary oxygen, but also contribute for the higher dry matter accumulation. A higher ethylene concentration under flooding increases the sensitivity of adventitious root-forming tissues and plays a principal role in aerenchyma formation. Waterlogging stress during formative phase caused 13.00, 21.63, 26.52 and 42.5 % reductions in plant height, tiller production, leaf area and total biomass respectively. Anaerobic polypeptides (ANPs) recently reported have shown to be involved in the pathways which mobilize sucrose or starch for ethanol fermentation, which is necessary to maintain energy production under anaerobic conditions. Up regulation of most of the candidate genes viz., Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH5F1), ACC oxidase, submergence induced proteins (ANP’s) and G-box binding factor-1 in tolerant varieties was also reported in sugarcane. This review provides an overview of recent research on sugarcane response in terms of growth and development, yield and quality to waterlogging stress and biochemical and molecular adaptive mechanisms that are implicated in flooding tolerance.