Completed projects and reports
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Sugar Research Australia, Sugar Research Development Corporation and BSES reports from completed research projects and papers.
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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 Effects of pachymetra root rot and nematodes on some elite sugarcane clones in Australia(ASSCT, 2016) Bhuiyan, SA; Croft, BJ; Wong, E; Ogden-Brown, J; Turner, M; Parfitt, R; Magarey, RC; Bull, J; Cox, MCPACHYMETRA ROOT ROT and nematodes are the two most important soil-borne pathogens of sugarcane in Australia. An experiment was established in Yandaran, Queensland in grey forest soil with high Pachymetra spore counts (>100 000 spores/kg). Fifteen elite varieties and one advanced clone, from pachymetra root rot susceptible, intermediate and resistant categories, were planted in the experiment. The experiment was maintained until the second ratoon crop and Pachymetra and nematode populations were assessed in each crop. In addition, the incidence of smut was recorded before harvesting. Cane yield (TCH), commercial cane sugar (CCS) and sugar yield (TSH) were also measured in each crop. Pachymetra spore counts remained significantly lower in resistant varieties compared to susceptible and intermediate varieties until the second ratoon. In intermediate and susceptible varieties Pachymetra spore counts increased substantially, in particular, in second ratoon. In intermediate varieties such as Q232A and Q208A Pachymetra spore counts increased more than three times from plant crop to second ratoon. Numbers of nematodes, in particular root-lesion nematode, more than doubled in the second ratoon crop compared to the plant and first ratoon crops. Only Q248A had significant levels of smut, with 25% and 30% infected plants in the first and second ratoon crops, respectively. Yield reduction was substantial in the second ratoon compared to the plant and first-ratoon crop. Sugar yield decreased by 45% in the second ratoon compared to the first ratoon. Mostly, poor or negative correlations were observed between both Pachymetra spore counts and nematode numbers and yield.Item How do current ratings of sugarcane varieties for resistance to smut relate to natural infection(ASSCT, 2018) Bhuiyan, SA; Cox, MC; Croft, BJSUGARCANE SMUT, CAUSED by a fungus Sporisorium scitamineum, is an important disease of sugarcane in Australia. Sugarcane smut can be managed effectively through the propagation of resistant varieties. In Sugar Research Australia’s (SRA) smut screening experiments, stalks of varieties from various stages of breeding programs are cut into one-eye setts and then dipped into a smut spore suspension (5 × 106 spores/mL water) for 10 min at 31 °C. After germination, the plants are transplanted to the field and disease incidence is measured in the plant crop and first and second ratoon crops. This method is effective for screening of a large number of varieties in a relatively short period (10–12 months) and is used in other countries. Although this method is widely accepted, it has some drawbacks: i) test plants are subject to very high disease pressure; and ii) it does not replicate natural infection. Three experiments were established in 2007, 2008 and 2009, to determine if the ratings obtained by artificial inoculation technique predict field resistance of varieties. All experiments were planted with 10 or 5 replicates of the test varieties planted between rows of infected Q205A, and maintained until second ratoon. Highly susceptible varieties Q205A and Q157 had >40% infected plants in plant crops whereas little smut was observed in intermediate and resistant varieties. Average % of smut infected plants increased in all experiments from the plant crop (5–12%) to first ratoon (21–46%) and second ratoon (26–59%) crops. The correlation coefficient values between smut incidence in the natural infection experiments and the historical ratings obtained using dip-inoculation methods ranged from r = 0.82 to 0.72, indicating a good agreement between natural infection trials and dip inoculation ratings.Item Does rotating cultivars with intermediate resistance influence pachymetra root rot of sugarcane : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Jensen, AS; Croft, BJ; Parfitt, RC; Brown, PHConcerns have been raised by industry members over lower than expected cane yields associated with high oospore levels in sugarcane cultivars rated to have intermediate resistance to pachymetra root rot. This is a significant issue, as intermediate cultivars represent more than 70% of the sugarcane grown in Australia. It is possible that planting the same intermediate cultivar in successive crop cycles could lead to increased yield losses due to pachymetra root rot. This paper examines the residual soil-borne effect of the current major sugarcane cultivars on the following sugarcane crop in three field trials, located in the Herbert, Central and Southern growing regions. Levels of oospores of Pachymetra chaunorhiza and cane yields were assessed in ratoon crops of replicated cultivar-assessment trials and in subsequent crops of intermediate resistant Q208A (planted on the sites of previous cultivar trials). The relationships between Pachymetra oospore levels and cane yield in Q208A crops and pre-plant oospore levels were examined. High oospore levels occurred in plots planted to some intermediate cultivars, as well as susceptible cultivars. In the following crop of Q208A, which was planted into plots of the previous cultivar trial, Pachymetra oospore levels at harvest were related to oospore levels prior to re-planting at all trial sites. Cane yield (t/ha) of Q208A was significantly related to pre-plant oospore levels at a site near Bundaberg (P=0.0049). Yield losses of 21% were incurred at 120 oospores/g soil in Q208A. Cultivation of Q208A following a crop of Q208A did not result in higher Pachymetra oospore populations or yield losses compared with planting Q208A after other cultivars of similar resistance rating. In the Herbert and Central field trials, Pachymetra oospore levels were lower and there were no significant relationships between oospore levels and yield in Q208A planted at these sites. We demonstrate that significant yield losses in Q208A are associated with high Pachymetra oospore levels that occur under intermediate and susceptible cultivars in the previous crop. There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that repeatedly planting the same intermediate cultivar could lead to host-cultivar-specific virulence in P. chaunorhiza. Greater emphasis should be placed on breeding and selecting highly resistant cultivars that are suited to soil types conducive to PachymetraItem 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 Procedures for the establishment and operation of approved seed plots: fourth edition 2013(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2013) Croft, BJ; Cox, MCHot-water treatment of sugarcane cuttings (stalks or stalk pieces) to control the spread of diseases and pests was pioneered in Australia. Hot-water treatment can reduce the risk of cuttings being infected with ratoon stunting disease, leaf scald, chlorotic streak, sugarcane smut and downy mildew and can free cuttings of insect pests. It does not usually control virus diseases such as sugarcane mosaic and Fiji leaf gall. Hot-water treatment is only a part of an integrated pest management program and must be used in combination with disease inspection, crop management and hygiene to reduce the risks of reinfection (see attached ‘Procedures for the establishment and operation of approved-seed plots’).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 SmutBuster: accelerated breeding of smut-resistant sugarcane varieties : SRDC final report BSS325(BSES, 2011) Cox, MC; Croft, BJ; Bonnett, GSugarcane smut is caused by the fungus, Ustilago scitaminea Syd., and is one of the most serious diseases of sugarcane. At the end of 1983, only the sugar industries of Australia and Fiji remained free from smut. Sugarcane smut was reported for the first time in Australia in July 1998 in the Ord River Irrigation Area. Eight years later, smut was identified on the east coast of Australia at Childers. By December 2007 sugarcane smut was widespread and established in the Bundaberg?Isis, Central Queensland and Herbert River districts, and by 2010 the Mulgrave, Tully and Burdekin districts were also infested. The average yield loss reported in papers at the time of the east coast smut incursion was 6% yield loss for each 10% increase in per cent-infected plants. To minimise losses susceptible varieties will need to be completely replaced with equivalent/higher yielding smut-resistant varieties, as fast as possible. This would necessitate changing ~80% of the2006 sugarcane crop. Replacement of susceptible varieties will be achieved, not only by rapid scale-up of smut-resistant varieties, but also accelerated development of high yielding,smut-resistant varieties. The parental pool of high breeding value, smut-resistant germplasm was however severely limited, adversely impacting the core crossing program. Without a significant plant breeding response, the rate of genetic gain for productivity would decrease and fewer productive, smut-resistant varieties would be released from the BSES-CSIRO Sugarcane Variety Improvement Program. The SmutBuster project was a key component of the RD&E response to sugarcane smut with the specific objective of developing high yielding smut-resistant varieties through the utilisation of high breeding value parental germplasm with susceptible reaction to smut.Item Pest risk analysis of sugarcane for the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy(BSES, 1997) Croft, BJ; Magarey, RCThe purpose of this pest risk analysis (PRA) is firstly to identify quarantine pests and pathogens which pose a threat to sugarcane, which may enter Australia through its northern borders into the area covered by the AQIS Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS); and secondly to, identify measures which could be taken by various agencies to reduce the risks of entry or to minimise the impact of such pests should they arrive. The PRA was conducted as outlined in the FAO Standard "Guidelines for Pest Risk Analysis", and is one of a series of PRAs commissioned by NAQS.