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 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 Strategies to limit the impact of nematode pressure on sugarcane productivity in the Isis : final report 2013/071(BSES, 2015) Jakins, A; Quinn, B; Halpin, N; Ginns, STwo trials were done in this project. One was a continuation of work started under a previous GRDC/SRDC-funded activity, 'Strategies to improve the integration of legumes into cane based farming systems'. This trial aimed to assess the impact of trash and tillage management options and nematicide application on nematodes and crop performance. Methods and results are contained in the following publication: Halpin NV, Stirling GR, Rehbein WE, Quinn B, Jakins A, Ginns SP. The impact of trash and tillage management options and nematicide application on crop performance and plant-parasitic nematode populations in a sugarcane/peanut farming system. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol. 37, 192-203. Nematicide application in the plant crop significantly reduced total numbers of plant parasitic nematodes (PPN) but there was no impact on yield. Application of nematicide to the ratoon crop significantly reduced sugar yield. The study confirmed other work demonstrating that implementation of strategies like reduced tillage reduced populations of total PPN, suggesting that the soil was more suppressive to PPN in those treatments. The second trial, a variety trial, demonstrated the limited value of nematicide application in sugarcane farming systems. This study has highlighted that growers shouldn’t view nematicides as a ‘cure all’ for paddocks that have historically had high PPN numbers. Nematicides have high mammalian toxicity, have the potential to contaminate ground water (Kookana et al. 1995) and are costly. The cost of nematicide used in R1 was approx. $320 - $350/ha, adding $3.50/t of cane in a 100 t/ha crop. Also, our study demonstrated that a single nematicide treatment at the application rate registered for sugarcane is not very effective in reducing populations of nematode pests. There appears to be some levels of resistance to nematodes within the current suite of varieties available to the southern canelands. For example the soil in plots that were growing Q183 had 560% more root knot nematodes / 200mL soil compared to plots that grew Q245. The authors see great value in investment into a nematode screening program that could rate varieties into groups of susceptibility to both major sugarcane nematode pests. Such a rating could then be built into a decision support ‘tree’ or tool to better enable producers to select varieties on a paddock by paddock basis.Item Final report Sugar Research and Development Corporation Preparation of a CD Rom library of plant-parasitic nematodes(2003) Nobbs, JPlant parasitic nematodes are of considerable importance to all cropping industries within Australia. Losses caused by plant parasitic nematodes currently recorded in Australia is estimated at between $300 to 450 million. The correct identification of nematodes is essential not only in developing risk management programs, but also for preventing the introduction of plant disease. This project affected Program 3.1 (Crop Protection) within the program SRDC and assists with the design and implementation of pest monitoring systems by developing a CDRom for the identification of plant parasitic nematodes and the symptoms they cause. The CD-Rom provides information regarding specific nematode pests and their distribution, host range, symptoms and life cycle. It is also the first step in identifying potential nematode problems by researchers in state government agricultural organisations and AQIS. It can be used as a training tool for personnel interested in plant disease and quarantine. Diagrams and photographs are included in the CD-Rom to explain characteristics of the groups of plant parasitic nematodes recorded from Australia and illustrate the disease symptoms they cause. The CD-Rom is designed in a similar way to a Web Site. It contains sections on Techniques, Nematodes and Crops which can be accessed by clicking on icons or headings. Each page contains an index to assist with navigating within the page to areas of particular interest The main outputs of this project have been the CD-Rom and a new edition of “Plant Parasitic Nematodes – sugarcane”. The CD-Rom is to be formally launched at the 3rd Australasian Soilborne Disease Symposium at Tanunda in February, 2004. The availability of the CD-Rom will be published in growers magazines such as the Sugarcane Growers Magazine and will be available for sale in November, 2003. A diagnostic service has been made available during this project which was advertised using a pamphlet (Appendix B). This service provided specimens of sugarcane nematodes for description in the CD-Rom. The CD-Rom will provide training and educational benefits to researchers and industry members and provides information concerning identification and control methods, that will assist with management strategies and allow incursion risks to be assessed. With increased understanding of the role of nematodes in sugarcane crops, cost reduction and economic savings will occur.Item Sugar yield decline joint venture, phase 1 : SRDC technical report(2000) Garside, ALThis report is a technical summary of the research carried out in Phase 1 of the Sugar Yield Decline Joint Venture (SYDJV) which ran from July 1993 to June 1999. Initially, the resources/funds for Phase 1 were provided by SRDC, BSES and CSIRO Division of Soils (now Land and Water) as core contributions to the Joint Venture. Much of the research carried out in Phase 1 was funded by these core contributions.In 1995 the Queensland Government Departments of Primary Industries and Natural Resources joined the SYDJV with funding provided by the Sugar Industry Reference Panel (SIRP). Research carried out with this funding included the southern rotation experiment and southern component of the strategic tillage work at Bundaberg and all of the nematode studies. Other research, not part of SYDJV, was also funded by SIRP.