Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) is a tall, perennial C4 grass, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of India, South East Asia and New Guinea. Beyond its role in sugar production, sugarcane is a vital source of ethanol, fodder and electricity. Globally, the total sugarcane production is 1.92 billion metric tons with 26.08 million hectares an area of yield of 73.67 tons per hectare in 2022 (FAOSTAT 2022). In India, sugarcane is grown on an area of 5.83 million hectares with a production of 494.22 million tons and an average productivity of 84.8 tons per hectare during 2022-23. In Haryana, sugarcane is grown on a 1.08 lakh hectare area with a production of 8.86 million tons and an average cane yield of 82.23 tons per hectare during 2022-23 (Anonymous, 2023; Hazarika et al., 2025).
       
The sugar industry’s efficiency is mostly determined by the availability of high-yielding and high-sugar cane types in sufficient quantities. The selection of ideal early and mid-late varieties has the potential to improve sugar recovery. The composition of varieties in the cane supply significantly impacts sugar recovery and any region’s total sugar production (Singh et al., 2019; Yadav et al., 2025). Currently, the breeding of sugarcane varieties aims to improve, through the selection of clones that have high yield and high sucrose as well as drought tolerance, ratooning ability, disease and pest resistance and better adaptation. Within the crop improvement programs for genetic improvement of sugarcane, conventional breeding is still the main route for obtaining improved varieties (De Morais  et al., 2015; Mukesh  et al., 2025) as compared to pulses (Mukesh et al., 2024).
       
Hence, there is a need to develop new high-yielding cultivars that would boost cane yields. Genetic improvement for quantitative traits depends on the nature and amount of variability present in the genetic stock and the extent to which the desirable traits are heritable. Successful plant breeding relies heavily on genetic variability, which determines how often a population exhibits traits that differ from one another and allows breeders to improve the traits to generate new varieties (Tolera et al., 2023). The variability may be due to environment or genotypes or interaction of both. The information about the extent of several genetic parameters viz., phenotypic co-efficient of variation (PCV), genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV), broad sense heritability and genetic gain is necessary for successful genetic improvement of a genotype (Kishore et al., 2015). Therefore, the present study aims to assess the extent of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for enhancing cane yield and quality traits in sugarcane clones.
 

The experiment was conducted at the research farm of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, RRS, Kaul, Kaithal during the spring season 2022-23 having an altitude of 230.7 m above mean sea level, 29°85' N longitude and 76°66' E latitude and located at the Agro-climatic Zone-VI of India. The experiment material consists of thirty sugarcane clones comprising 27 advanced generation clones and 3 standard checks were evaluated by planting in a Randomized Block Design with three replications. The details of genotypes are given in Table 1. Each genotype was grown in 4 rows of 6 m length with row-to-row spacing of 0.75 m. Seventeen Morphological and yield characters were viz. number of tillers (thousand/ha) at 120 days after planting, number of shoots (thousand/ha) at 240 days after planting, cane yield (t/ha) at harvest, number of millable canes (thousand/ha) at harvest, stalk length (cm) at harvest, stalk diameter (cm) at harvest and single cane weight (kg) at harvest. The data of morphological traits was recorded from five randomly tagged plants of each genotype. Yield and its associated characters were first recorded on a per-plot basis and then conversion formula was used to calculate it for per hectare basis. Quality traits namely brix %, pol %, purity % and CCS % were observed after the 8^th and 10^th month of planting while CCS (t/ha) and extraction % were studied at harvest. Analysis of variance was estimated according to Fisher (1925) to test the variations among genotypes by using F-test. The genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were calculated using the formulae provided by Burton and DeVane (1953). Heritability in broad sense and genetic advance was computed with the formula given by Johnson et al., (1955).

The analysis of variance for different morphological and quality traits revealed that the mean sum of square due to genotypes was highly significant for all the seventeen characters namely numbers of tillers at 120 DAP (‘000/ha), number of shoots at 240 DAP (‘000/ha), stalk length (cm), stalk diameter (cm), number of millable canes at harvest (‘000/ha), single cane weight (Kg), cane yield (t/ha), CCS (t/ha), Brix % at 8^th month, pol % at 8^th month, purity % at 8^th month, CCS % at 8^th month, brix % at 10^th month, pol % at 10^th month, purity % at 10^th month, CCS % at 10^th month and extraction % as shown in Table 2. It implied that there was abundance of genetic variability in all thirty genotypes studied. Similar results had been observed by earlier workers namely Sharma et al., (2023); Hardeep et al., (2023); Patra et al., (2022); Kumar et al., (2021); Singh et al., (2020); Kumar et al., (2018) and Hiremath and Nagaraja (2016).


       
The estimated values of mean, range, variability, heritability (h²), genetic advance and genetic advance as percent of mean for morphological and quality traits were illustrated in Table 3. The present study illustrated a large range of phenotypic variability and very significant differences among genotypes for all parameters under consideration, as illustrated by the graph in Fig 1. This suggested that there was significant amount of genetic variation present in the material and there is good scope for development of numerous morphological and qualitative attributes, including cane yield, if judicious selection pressure is applied to the genetic material. The present investigation is in accordance with Hardeep et al., (2023); Sharma et al., (2023); Tena et al., (2023); Tolera et al., (2023); Patra et al., (2022); Kumar et al., (2021); Singh et al., (2020); Kumar et al., (2018) and Patil and Patel (2017).




       
According to Burton and DeVane (1953), a more accurate index for estimating the genetic variability of various traits. Examination of the data for the genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation revealed that CCS (t/ha) character exhibited (18.07%) moderate GCV and (21.05%) high PCV. The results for the coefficient of variation conform CCS (t/ha) were reported earlier by Sharma et al., (2023), Patra et al., (2022) and Béhou and Péné (2020). However, moderate estimates of variation were observed for the majority of morphological characters viz., cane yield (t/ha), number of millable canes at harvest, single cane weight, number of shoots at 240 days and number of tillers at 120 days. This indicated the presence of wide genetic variability and the possibility of genetic improvement through direct selection of these traits. These results were in agreement with the results of Hardeep et al., (2023); Singh et al., (2020), Kumar et al., (2018) and Mehareb et al., (2017). Purity % at 10th month recorded lowest values of GCV (1.11%) and PCV (1.44%) among morphological characters. Singh et al., (2020) and Kumari et al., (2020) also observed the lower estimate of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation among morphological characters for Purity % at 10^th month.
       
Lower values (<10%) of GCV and PCV were estimated for CCS % at 8^th month, pol % at 8th month, brix % at 8^th month, purity % at 8^th month, stalk diameter, stalk length, CCS % at 10^th month, pol % at 10^th month, brix % at 10^th month, purity % at 10^th month and extraction %. These lower estimates imply that these features might slightly improve through direct selection. The present investigation are in accordance with Hardeep et al., (2023); Kumari et al., (2020); Ahmed et al., (2019); Kumar et al., (2018) and Agrawal and Kumar (2017).
       
The statistical analysis of data from seventeen characters under research revealed that the phenotypic coefficient of variance is higher than the genotypic coefficient, showing that variation is caused not only by genotypes but also by influences from the environment. The narrow difference between GCV and PCV levels demonstrated that genetic variables play a stronger influence in character expression than environmental ones. This is in consonance with earlier studies of  Hardeep et al., (2023); Patra et al., (2022); Singh et al., (2020); Kumari et al., (2020); Kumar et al., (2018); Hiremath and Nagaraja (2016).          
       
Measures of variability such as mean, range and coefficient of variation reflect mainly the extent of variability, not the proportion of variability that is heritable. To determine the heritability of each and every character, one must first understand the heritable portion of the variability. Knowing which traits are heritable is useful for breeders since it reveals how much improvement can be accomplished through selection for that specific feature. The heritability of any character of interest impacts the success of selection to improve it.
       
In the present investigation high heritability estimates were recorded for majority of morphological characters viz., stalk length (85.56%), single cane weight (77.31%), CCS (t/ha) (73.67%), cane yield (71.36%), number of shoots at 240 DAP (67.50%), number of millable canes at harvest (63.90%) and number of tillers at 120 DAP (60.91%). Among the quality characters highest broad sense heritability was recorded for pol % at 8^th month (80.64%) followed by CCS % at 8^th month (80.10%), pol % at 10^th month (78.41%), brix % at 10^th month (78.23%), brix % at 10^th month (77.55%), CCS % at 10^th month (77.06%) and purity % at 8^th month (60.25 %). Purity % at 10^th month (59.25%) and Extraction % at harvest (31.92%) showed moderate estimate of heritability. Hardeep et al., (2023), Patra et al., (2022) and Kumari et al., (2020) reported similar results as observed in this investigation. Kumari et al., (2020) also obtained high heritability values for pol % in juice at 12^th month, CCS % at 12^th month, brix % at 12^th month, brix at 10^th month stage, single cane weight, pol % in juice at 10^th month, cane height at harvest, cane diameter at harvest, cane yield, CCS % at 10^th month, purity % at 10^th month stage, number of milliable canes at harvest among the twenty characters. In contrary to present study Kumar et al., (2018) reported high broad sense heritability estimates for cane diameter, single cane weight, millable cane at harvest, extraction %, brix %, pol %, CCS % at 10^th month, sugar yield and cane yield at harvest whereas, for purity % at 8^th and 10^th month they reported low estimates of heritability.
       
Genetic advance refers to the accumulation of genes towards under selection pressure and it is expressed as genetic advance as percentage of the mean. The high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for CCS (t/ha) (31.95%) followed by cane yield (27.63%), number of tillers at 120 DAP (21.48%), numbers of shoots at 240 DAP (21.01%) and single cane weight (20.84%). The moderate values were observed for number of millable canes at harvest (19.52%), stalk length (15.43%) and stalk diameter (12.15%). These results were in agreement with the findings of Hardeep et al., (2023); Singh et al., (2020); Ahmed et al., (2019) and Kumar et al., (2018). Agarwal and Kumar (2017) obtained similar result for CCS (t/ha), cane yield, number of tillers at 120 DAP and number of shoots at 240 DAP. Tabassum et al., (2023) also reported high genetic advance as percent of mean for cane yield, CCS yield, number of tillers, number of millable canes and single cane weight. Patil and Patel (2017) also reported that number of millable canes at harvest, stalk length and stalk diameter possess moderate genetic advance as per cent of mean.
       
According to Johnson et al., (1955), heritability estimates combined with expected to genetic gain will be more beneficial in predicting the outcome of picking the best genotypes through selection. The high genetic advance coupled with high heritability revealed the most efficient state for selection. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for CCS (t/ha) (73.67% and 31.95%) followed by cane yield (71.36% and 27.63%), number of tillers at 120 DAP (60.91% and 21.48%), numbers of shoots at 240 DAP (67.50% and 21.01%) and single cane weight (77.31% and 20.84%) as shown in graph (Fig 2) suggesting that these characters are governed by additive gene action and selection for these characters will be effective for further improvement in cane yield. In contract with present study Hardeep et al., (2023) observed high broad sense heritability with high genetic advance for number of tillers at 120 DAP, number of shoots at 240 DAP, single cane weight, cane length, cane yield and CCS (t/ha). High heritability with high genetic advance as per cent of mean was recorded for cane yield, CCS yield, number of tillers, number of millable canes and single cane weight was observed by Tabassum et al., (2023).


       
Two traits viz., number of millable canes at harvest (63.90% and 19.52%) and stalk length (85.56% and 15.43%) in current investigation showed high heritability in association with moderate genetic advance as percent of mean respectively. It indicates that non-additive gene expression governs these characters and careful selection is necessary to achieve the desired improvements in these characters. These results are in conformity with the findings of Kumar et al., (2018) for number of millable canes at harvest and stalk length. Negi et al., (2017) obtained similar result for cane height and Kumari et al., (2020) for number of millable canes at harvest.
       
The current findings provide significant insights into the genetic diversity of sugarcane germplasm. Based on the experiment, it can be concluded that CCS (t/ha), cane yield, number of tillers at 120 DAP, number of shoots at 240 DAP and single cane weight demonstrate the importance of additive gene action. Selection for these traits will be effective in future breeding programs aimed at improving sugarcane yield and quality traits.

The present investigation revealed considerable genetic variability among thirty sugarcane genotypes for all morphological and quality traits studied. Higher estimates of PCV over GCV indicated marginal environmental influence on trait expression. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded for CCS (t/ha), cane yield, number of tillers at 120 DAP, number of shoots at 240 DAP and single cane weight, confirming the predominance of additive gene action for these traits. This suggests that direct selection for these characters would be rewarding in future breeding programs. Number of millable canes and stalk length exhibited high heritability with moderate genetic advance, indicating non-additive gene action and the need for cautious selection. The superior genotypes identified in this study can be effectively utilized in hybridization and selection programs aimed at improving cane yield and sucrose recovery under Haryana agroclimatic conditions.

The authors are grateful to the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, for providing resources to conduct this research.

No conflicting interests are disclosed by the authors.