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 Item Cost assessment of the adoption of harvesting best practice (HBP) : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Nothard, B; Thompson, M; Patane, P; Landers, G; Norris, CA; Poggio, MUsing ground speeds and extractor fan speeds recommended by Harvesting Best Practice (HBP) will minimise cane loss and stool damage. While these benefits provide an incentive for growers to request contractors use HBP settings, little research based on trial data has examined the full impact on harvesting costs. Given that reduced ground speeds increase harvesting time, it is expected harvesting contractors would incur higher labour, fuel and machinery costs per tonne. To incentivise the move to HBP, additional compensation would need to be paid to harvesting contractors by growers. It is anticipated that providing growers and contractors with information about the harvesting cost implications from implementing HBP would enhance adoption. The difference in harvesting costs between conventional (standard) harvesting practice and HBP (recommended) are evaluated at nine harvesting-trial sites undertaken across Queensland in 2017 by Sugar Research Australia. The analysis draws upon the production and operational information collected during the trials along with detailed information collected from each of the nine harvesting operations. A customised economic spreadsheet was developed to model the difference in harvesting costs between standard practice and recommended settings. Harvesting costs per tonne were generally found to increase when using recommended settings, with the exception of trials that attained large reductions in cane losses due to the change in practice. The results showed that changing to recommended settings increased harvesting costs by between $11 and $101/ha. Changes per tonne showed far more variability at –67 c/t (saving) to 96 c/t (increase), where some cases showed cost increases offset by yield improvements. Moreover, harvesting costs varied among harvesting contractors due to differences in machinery-management strategies and labour-payment terms. Sensitivity analyses were also undertaken to investigate the response of harvesting costs to different scenarios.Item Economic evaluation of sugarcane harvesting best practice (HBP) : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Thompson, M; Nothard, B; Patane, P; Landers, G; Norris, CAMechanical sugarcane harvesting is commonly undertaken at ground speeds that exceed the cleaning capacity of modern harvesters, which is likely to increase extraneous matter (EM) levels in the cane supply. To attempt to reduce the higher EM levels, operators typically increase extractor fan speeds above recommendations, resulting in unintended cane loss. Past research indicates that using harvesting best practice (HBP) settings can minimise cane loss and stool damage. These benefits would increase grower revenue and be an incentive for growers to request harvesting contractors operate using HBP settings. Reduced ground speeds would, however, increase harvesting time and generate higher costs per hectare. The key issue remains as to whether the increased grower revenues outweigh the additional harvesting costs. Nine replicated and randomised trials undertaken by Sugar Research Australia in 2017 compared harvesting performance when using both conventional and HBP settings through identifying production and grower revenue differences. Detailed information was collected from each harvesting operation to identify harvesting costs under both conventional practice and HBP. This allowed the net benefit for the grower and harvesting operation from using HBP settings to be determined. On average over the nine trials, recommended harvesting settings generated more grower revenue than the added harvesting costs from reducing ground speeds and generated a net economic benefit of $163/ha (or $1.97/t). The trials show that, while growers would need to pay additional compensation for cane harvested using HBP settings, the compensation would be less than the additional revenue they received, increasing overall grower profitability.Item Untitled(ABARES, 2015) Valle, H; Martin, PIn 2014 ABARES was commissioned by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Sugar Research Australia to conduct a survey of Australian sugarcane growing farm businesses. The survey was conducted in early 2015 and collected a comprehensive set of financial, physical and management information on farm businesses that grow sugar cane. The results of this survey will help benchmark industry financial performance and inform industry policy and investment.Item Optimising productivity and variety recommendations through analysis of mill data : ASSCT peer reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2016) Stringer, JK; Croft, B; Di Bella, L; Sefton, M; Nielsen, R; Larsen, P; De Lai, R; Davies, IProduction peaked in the Herbert River mills in 2005 but since then productivity has declined. Analysis of mill data in the Herbert has successfully identified groups of farms with similar productivity over time and the major factors associated with these groupings. The major finding of the study was that those growers who have adopted new farming systems had significantly higher productivity than those who use traditional practices. The impact of the Pachymetra resistance of previous varieties on yield of the current crop was also significant, suggesting this may be a major factor contributing to poor ratooning in the Herbert. In the small farm size groups, low and high performing growers had similar levels of % plant, % young crops, % old crops and % old varieties. However, the low and high performing groups varied significantly in terms of new varieties, suggesting that the small farm size low performing group were not adopting the new, more productive varieties to the same extent as the small farm size high performing group. Manager’s age was also an important factor associated with cane yields. Growers who regularly (five or six years out of six) obtained clean seed had more than 10% higher yields than growers who never or infrequently obtained clean seed and greater than 6% higher yields than growers who only obtained clean seed in three or four years out of six. Results from this research has allowed the Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited (HCPSL) to design targeted extension strategies with the region. This will result in better variety recommendations and increase productivity.Item Starch accumulation in sugarcane in response to stress(ASSCT, 2016) Joyce, P; Don, NH; Sousa, M; Olsen, DYellow Canopy Syndrome (YCS) is a new problem affecting the Australian sugar industry. It was first reported in 2012 and has increased in occurrence and spread from the initial reports in North Queensland to further south in Mackay last year. While the causal agent is still unknown, several physiological studies have been performed. This paper examines the accumulation of starch in sugarcane leaves. This was an initial observation in YCS affected leaf sections of tillers of KQ228A. Subsequently, a method for routine high throughput qualitative analysis of starch has been developed, enabling rapid assessment of this response. Follow up work has compared this phenomenon in affected stalks, both between leaves of different ages within a stalk, as well as within regions of the same leaf. The accumulation of starch in sugarcane plants in response to biotic stress and in naturally senescing leaves has been undertaken to understand this phenomenon better and will be described in this paper. Our results showed that unlike YCS affected leaves, starch did not accumulate in the leaves of diseased plants nor in senescing leaves collected from the field.Item Exploiting Erianthus diversity to enhance sugarcane cultivars : ASSCT peer-reviewed paper(ASSCT, 2019) Piperidis, N; Tom, C; Aitken, KS; Atkin, FC; Piperidis, GIntrogression of Erianthus arundinaceus into the SRA sugarcane-breeding program has been a goal for researchers for many years. The Erianthus genome was finally accessible to sugarcane breeders with the identification in 2005 of the first Saccharum/Erianthus fertile hybrids, developed in China. Today, Saccharum/Erianthus BC3 and BC4 clones are available in Australia, and Erianthus-sugarcane hybrids have been characterised by cytogenetics and investigated for their potential resistance against pachymetra root rot, sugarcane smut and nematodes. Some clones have shown potential as new sources of resistance for incorporation into the SRA breeding program. These hybrids were created from Erianthus clones indigenous to China and their reaction to the above diseases is unknown in Australian conditions. In Meringa we also have access to many Erianthus clones of Indonesian origin. Some of these Erianthus clones have previously shown immunity to pachymetra root rot. In the late 1990s, these Indonesian Erianthus clones were used in crossing but no fertile hybrids were ever produced due to an incompatibility between the Saccharum and the Erianthus genomes. We revisited this untapped source of resistance by utilising the fertile Erianthus hybrids derived from China to cross with the Indonesian Erianthus of known resistance to pachymetra root rot. Here we report on the early stage results of introgressing Indonesian Erianthus into the SRA breeding program.Item Unknown to known - Sclerotium rolfsii can cause severe germination failure and seedling death in sugarcane : ASSCT poster paper(ASSCT, 2019) Bhuiyan, SA; Wickramasinghe, P; Mudge, SR; Adhikari, P; Garlick, KItem Marker-assisted selection for smut resistance : ASSCT poster paper(ASSCT, 2019) Sun, Y; Joyce, P; Deomano, E; Eglinton, J