Improving the Plant breeding selection system for Fiji Disease Resistance : SRDC final report BSS255

Abstract

Fiji 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.