Single-Stool Plots for Estimating Relative Yield Losses Caused by Ratoon Stunting Disease of Sugarcane. Jack L. Dean, Research Plant Pathologist, USDA, ARS, U.S. Sugarcane Field Station, Canal Point, FL 33438. Plant Dis. 67:47-49. Accepted for publication 18 May 1982. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1983. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-47.

In the most sensitive of three trials involving nine to 11 clones of sugarcane, the minimum detectable difference in average plant weight between healthy and ratoon-stunting-diseased plants was estimated to be 3.3 kg with 10 replicates (pairs of plants), 2.2 kg with 20 replicates, and 1.8 kg with 30 replicates; both type I and type II error rates were set at 0.05. These differences represented about 19, 13, and 10%, respectively, of the mean weight of all healthy plants in the trial.