In sugar cane, investigations made earlier (Singh & Gururaja Rao, 1985) have shown that high-yielding varieties have higher net assimilation rate than low-yielding types. Similarly, differences in progeny means for relative growth rate and net assimilation rate have been reported by George (1965). In other crops also, varietal differences in leaf area index and net assimilation rate have been reported (Watson, 1947). It appears that in this crop, limited attempts have been made to study all the growth characteristics. This paper describes the differences in most of the growth characteristics in six sugar-cane varieties.