Each year, sugarcane breeders in each region plant and assess new populations of clones in Clonal Assessment Trials (CAT, target 2,000-2,500) and Final Assessment Trials (FAT, target 150-250). These clonal populations are selected originally from seedling families...
New varieties are the backbone of the Australian sugar industry and have been regarded widely as a major contributor to maintaining profitability and sustainability. Without new, disease-resistant varieties, the impact of major disease incursions such as smut (2006),...
Introgression 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...
The dry matter content of the sugarcane stalk consists of soluble sugars and insoluble fibre. Although the fibre content of Saccharum officinarum is typically low, with the introgression of S. spontaneum a wider range of fibre characteristics can be identified in...
