Varieties, plant breeding and release
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://elibrary2.sugarresearch.com.au/handle/11079/13841
Research outcomes: Comprehensive and efficient variety breeding, selection and release programs responding to yield expectations, environmental constraints, resource scarcity and regional preferences. Faster varietal adoption using advanced methods for bulking, distribution and planting.
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Item Effect of Phytocercomonas venanatans, the causal agent of chlorotic streak, on yield of commercial sugarcane cultivars : ASSCT poster paper(ASSCT, 2019) Ngo, AN; Wickramasinghe, P; Bratihwaite, KS; Croft, BJItem New germplasm to develop more productive varieties with enhanced resistance to nematodes, pachymetra root rot and smut : final report 2011/344(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2016) Croft, BJSugarcane industries around the world were transformed in the early 1900s when Dutch plant breeders working in Indonesia, and Indian breeders, working independently, developed sugarcane varieties derived from the wild relative called Saccharum spontaneum. Crossing sugarcane with wild relatives, and the subsequent backcrossing of progeny to sugarcane to regain sufficiently high sugar content for commercial production is known as introgression breeding. The wild relative added higher yield, extra vigour, longer ratoons and disease resistance to the original sugarcane, S. officinarum. Most modern sugarcane varieties can be traced back to a very small number of these early crosses with the wild Saccharum spontaneum. In Asia and the Pacific region, there is a vast source of variation within wild sugarcane relatives that could potentially provide commercial sugarcane with new genes to improve yield, stress resistance, ratooning ability and disease resistance. One wild sugarcane relative that was recently successfully crossed with sugarcane in China, Erianthus arundinaceus, is highly drought tolerant, almost immune to pachymetra root rot and is highly resistant to nematodes. SRA and CSIRO researchers have worked closely in this project to build on earlier projects to introduce new traits into the Australian sugarcane breeding population from wild relatives of sugarcane. The project screened the available introgression clones for yield, pachymetra root rot, lesion nematode, root-knot nematode and smut resistance and made new crosses to further improve the introgression clones. One clone derived from Erianthus, KQ08-1040, performed better than the average of the standards for yield in final assessment trials in the Central regions. This clone was also one of the best parent clones in progeny assessment trials. KQ08-1040 will be further assessed as a potential commercial variety and could be the first sugarcane variety anywhere in the world to have Erianthus as a progenitor. A number of other introgression clones from crosses with Saccharum spontaneum, Saccharum robustum and Erianthus procerus performed well as clones or as parents in yield trials in the Burdekin, Central, South and NSW regions. The clones are currently being tested in the Herbert and North regions.Item Improving the Plant breeding selection system for Fiji Disease Resistance : SRDC final report BSS255(2005) Croft, BJ; Ridley, AW; Dhileepan, K; James, APFiji leaf gall (FLG) has caused major epidemics in the Australian sugar industry in the past. All new cultivars of sugarcane released in areas affected by FLG should be resistant to the disease. New cultivars have been tested for resistance in field trials in the past but the field trials are unreliable with only a third of trials in the last 28 years giving reliable ratings. The aim of this project was to develop a method of rating clones for resistance to FLG that would be accurate, reliable and practical to implement in the BSES-CSIRO variety improvement program.Item Whole-farm planning for management of varieties to maximise productivity and reduce losses from diseases : SRDC final report BSS294(2009) Croft, BJ; Cox, MC; Millard, D; Burrows, AThe appropriate selection of sugarcane varieties is critical for maximising profitability and sustainability for both growers and millers in the Australian sugarcane industry. Growers are faced with many complex decisions when selecting varieties such as yield potential, suitability to soil type, optimum mix of varieties to maximize sugar content throughout the season, resistance to diseases and pests, ratooning ability and tolerance to stresses such as drought, frost and flooding. This project has developed a web-based variety decision support tool and information resource for the Australian sugarcane industry named QCANESelect to help growers make the best variety choices.Item AGR2008150 : Provision of research and development services for the Ord Sugarcane project(2009) Croft, BJ; Webb, B; Piperidis, GBSES has provided the research and extension services to the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) sugar industry under a cooperative agreement with the WA Dept of Agriculture and Food since 2003. This contract was terminated in April 2008 after the Ord sugar mill ceased operations in 2007. A new contract was signed to provide continued Plant breeding and plant pathology services to WA Dept of Agriculture and Food to continue plant-breeding trials, inspect sugarcane plots for diseases and pests and to advise WA Dept of Agriculture and Food on maintenance of sugarcane varieties so they could be available for potential new sugar industries in the ORIA.Item AGR2008150 : Provision of research and development services for the Ord Sugarcane project(2010) Croft, BJ; Webb, B; Piperidis, GThe requirements for year 2 of the contract for the delivery of research and development services to the Ord sugar project have been fully achieved. The harvest results from two second ratoon, two first ratoon and two plant crop yield trials were analysed using BSES statistical procedures and the analysed results were provided to the WA Dept of Agriculture and Food. These data were used to identify promising new varieties for further propagation. Barry Croft, BSES Program leader biosecurity (Plant pathologist), and George Piperidis, BSES Program Leader Variety Adoption (Plant Breeder), visited the Ord from the 24-27 May 2010. They inspected selected varieties in yield trials and propagation plots for sugarcane smut, top rot and other diseases and made notes on growth of the varieties. Recommendations were made on the maintenance and further propagation of varieties that have performed well in yield trials and have acceptable reaction to sugarcane smut and top rot. A heavy infestation of scale insects was noted on a few varieties in the 2008 propagation plot in block 6B. These insects have been seen before but this was a particularly severe infestation and the variety Q208 which has performed well in the Ord and is the major variety in Queensland was one of the varieties affected. A borer that was attacking rice was collected. BSES is currently involved in an Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) funded project investigating biological control of borer species attacking sugarcane in Indonesia. Part of this study is to collaborate with other research groups that are DNA barcoding endemic and exotic moth borers and these samples will be submitted for DNA barcoding.Item Reducing the Australian sugar industry's genetic vulnerability to sugarcane smut : SRDC final report BSS256(2007) Croft, BJ; Berding, NSugarcane smut was recorded for the first time in Australia in July 1998 in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) and was identified in the Bundaberg/Isis, Central and Herbert regions of Queensland in 2006. Sugarcane smut can cause losses from 30-100% in susceptible varieties. The objective of this project was to rate Australian commercial varieties, advanced selections in the BSES/CSIRO selection programs, and parental clones for resistance to smut. The ratings will be used to provide smut- resistant varieties to the Australian sugar industry and to assist the breeding program to increase the frequency of smut-resistant genes in breeding populations.This project continues the work commenced in the SRDC project BSS214 Screening of Australian Germplasm for Resistance to Sugarcane Smut. The smut-screening trials were conducted on Madura Island by the Indonesian Sugar Research Institute (ISRI) under contract to BSES.Item Literature review of methods of improving the germination of sugarcane : SRDC final report BSS208(2000) Croft, BJSugarcane is propagated from vegetative cuttings of the stalk (setts or billets). The cuttings can be planted by hand or through mechanical whole-stalk or billet planters. Billet planters have given variable results because of damage to the billets and uneven delivery of the billets into the furrows. Germination of the buds on the sugarcane cuttings is affected by temperature, moisture in the sett and the soil, plant hormones and the availability and rate of release of reducing sugars (eg glucose) within setts. Pineapple disease caused by the fungus, Ceratocystis paradoxa, rots setts of cane and can cause total germination failures. Wireworms (Agrypnus variabilis and Heteroderes spp) attack the buds and can cause poor germination.The speed of germination and the percentage of buds that germinate can be improved by soaking setts in water, short hot water treatment, pre-treatment of planting material with nutrients including nitrogen and application of mercurial fungicides. Except for the fungicide, these treatments have practical problems for application in commercial planting. Coating setts with materials to protect them from fungal and insect attack and to provide ideal conditions for germination is an attractive concept but no practical methods for achieving this concept have been reported.