Sugarcane is most important cash crop of India and provides raw material for the second largest agro-based industry. In climate change scenario, water stress is the major factor that can limit the potential yield of sugarcane and exposure to water stress results in oxidative damage due to generation of reactive oxygen species. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate antioxidant responses of sugarcane varieties to water regimes during different growth phases. Four water regime treatments were applied i. e. at Establishment stage (S1), Tillering stage (S2), Grand growth stage (S3) and Control (S4). Four sugarcane varieties were studied under this water regimes viz. CoN 04131, Co 86032, CoN 07072 and CoN 03131. The antioxidant like proline, glycine betaine, catalase and peroxidase were analysed. Under water stress conditions on different stages of sugarcane crop, it was observed that proline, glycine beatine, catalase and proxidase contents were increased under water stress conditions. The result indicates that variety CoN 04131 showed the tolerant activity under stress conditions and proline, glycine betaine, catalase and peroxidase may be good biochemical markers for identification of drought tolerance in sugarcane.

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