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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    Knowledge of sugarcane physiology and climate-crop-soil interactions : SRDC final report
    (2003) Inman-Bamber, NG
    Compared to other crops, knowledge of growth mechanisms in sugarcane is inadequate. The question arises as to how much longer can we continue to prosper from sugarcane if knowledge of the growth processes on which our industry depends, remains outdated? Sucrose accumulation and efficient use of resources are primary concerns for this industry. To date we have only limited understanding of climate and management links to sucrose content or CCS and this undermines our ability to manage water, nutrients, varieties and the harvest schedule for maximum CCS and optimum cane yield. Cane and sucrose yields are often below potential for reasons about which we can only speculate (Leslie and Byth, 2000). In the past, research funds have been directed at opportunities for raising limitations to yield and efficiency of resource use at the gene and enzyme level as well as at the crop and paddock level. There has been no attempt to integrate research or information across these disciplines or to assess where progress toward sustainable production is most likely to be achieved. SRDC recognized that it was now time for each discipline interested in the same processes to get together to find out how their different approaches could be complementary. SRDC also recognised the need to review past data relating to crop growth in the later stages of crop development to see if something could be done about under performing crops during this stage.
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    Pathways to exploiting enhanced photosynthetic efficiency for higher sucrose and biomass yield
    (2011) Inman-Bamber, NG
    Australia has one of the highest commercial cane sugar (CCS) levels in the world but unfortunately CCS appears to have plateaud at about 14% of fresh cane weight over the past 20 years. Up to now in breeding programs, increased fibre has been considered to have negative economic impacts because of adverse effects on sugar extraction and milling rate. It is possible that high fibre genotypes can produce higher biomass yields than high sucrose types because high sucrose content in the stalk may feedback negatively on photosynthesis either through end-product suppression or through sugar signalling compounds. This is now an assumption which is gaining acceptance through recent publications. Prior to this project this assumption had not been tested using high fibre and high sucrose clones. Feedback inhibition is also suspected to be the cause of the ‘reduced growth phenomenon’, a term applied to lower than expected biomass accumulation after a certain stage in crop development. This project aimed to establish the role of cane stalk sucrose in feedback inhibition of photosynthesis in order to reveal existing limitations to increasing sucrose content and biomass yield.
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    SRDC Research Project final report Increased CCS, cane yield and water use efficiency by exploiting interactions between genetics and management
    (2009) Inman-Bamber, NG
    In October 2003 delegates at an international workshop on sugarcane physiology funded by SRDC concluded that priority should be directed at a better understanding of traits responsible for high yield and high sucrose content, in order to better design future genotypes. While pathways of sucrose accumulation were and are being investigated at the molecular and cellular levels, there was no concurrent work at the crop level. Consequently it is difficult to answer the questions- To what extent will genetic improvements be modified by management and the environment? and conversely, To what extent does management and environment influence the selection of varieties? These and other questions about the genotype x environment (GxE) interaction on sucrose accumulation and lodging were the major concerns of this project with sucrose accumulation as the predominant issue. This project forms part of a large effort now underway worldwide to find alternative methods to develop cultivars with improved sugar content. The main objective was to better understand the interactions between sugarcane genetics and the environment (including management) with respect to sugar accumulation. After four years of intensive work the project has delivered extensive new knowledge on the physiology of interactions between sugarcane genetics and the environment with respect to sugar accumulation and lodging and as such has met the main objective of the research.