Temperature Effects on the Development of Hair Groups and Stalk Coloration in Saccharum L. 1

High temperatures (34 C) completely repress the development of two of three hair groups investigated and markedly reduce the degree of stalk coloration in Saccharum . Hair group 67, previously considered to occur only in S. robustum Brandes and Jeswiet ex Grassl, was induced in several clones of S. spontaneum L. and S. officinarum L. grown at low temperatures (16 C). Low temperature induction of hair groups was simulated in a commercial sugarcane variety grown at high temperatures by treatment with benzyladenine. Although unreliable for taxonomic purposes hair group induction may prove useful for evolutionary studies within Saccharum .