Varieties, plant breeding and release

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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, BJ
Sugarcane 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.
The role of root growth and activity in determining sugarcane productivity : SRDC final report CLW002 (previously CSS02 & CSS2S)
(1999) Magarey, R; Nable, R; Reghenzani, J; Smith, J; Berthelsen, S; Grace, D; Robertson, M
Research conducted in this project aimed to better understand the relationship between root and shoot growth, in areas such as how the size of the root system affects shoot growth, do particular root parameters have a controlling influence on shoot growth, how do soil characteristics affect root penetration rates, and how the root system develops through the life of a sugarcane crop. This was achieved through the application of a wide range of experimental techniques in both the glasshouse and field situation. The study of root systems in sugarcane is difficult - due to the size of the crop and the length of the cropping period. As a result there have been few previous studies on sugarcane root systems in Australia, and indeed around the world. A number of techniques were either developed, or adapted, in this project research. A soilless aeroponic culture technique was installed and refined at Tully Sugar Experiment Station. This allowed sugarcane roots to be examined on a daily basis and root measurements made, or root pruning to occur. This overcame the difficulty of dealing with the bulky, opaque soil medium. A tall pot system was adapted for sugarcane where sugarcane could be grown for an extended period in controlled conditions. This enabled plant water relations to be studied in association with modification to root growing conditions. Root image analysis techniques were further refined for sugarcane, allowing measurement of both whole glasshouse-grown root systems, or the quantification of root lengths in material from soil cores obtained in the field. A technique for growing sugarcane with a split root system was also adapted enabling the direct and indirect effects of water stress and root pruning in a soil culture to be examined, and the likely presence of root signals as a mechanism for control of shoot growth. Studies using these techniques facilitated an examination of the relationship between roots and shoots under various experimental conditions - ranging from controlled conditions with no soil in the glasshouse, through other soil-based glasshouse trials, to the field situation. This gave depth to project results and a broader understanding of root-shoot relationships using a range of experimental observations.

Varieties, plant breeding and release

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