Project Number: 6625-13210-003-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jul 01, 2003
End Date: Jun 30, 2008

Objective:
Sugarcane clones will be given photoperiodic treatments to synchronize flowering so that crosses can be made for Louisiana, Texas, California and Florida. Develop new high yielding cultivars that are disease resistant, tolerant to environmental stresses and adapted to machine harvesting. Evaluate the heritability of high water table tolerance, indentify tolerant clones and develop water table regimes that will maintain production and reduce subsidence of organic soils. Evaluate and identify molecular markers associated with traits of interest in the sugarcane breeding program. Enhance the infrastructure and protocols that underpin critical analytical capabilities data collection, and data management in the breeding program and associated research projects.

Approach:
Photoperiodic manipulation will be used to delay early flowering clones and induce late flowering clones. The resulting tassels will be used to produce recommended crosses. The seed produced will be distributed to the ARS cooperative sugarcane cultivar development programs in Louisiana, Texas, California and Florida. Special crosses will be produced to study the heritability of various agronomic traits, resistance to various diseases, high water table tolerance and cold tolerance. Progenies will be evaluated to develop high yielding cultivars that are disease resistant and tolerant of high water tables. Water table regimes will be developed that reduce soil subsidence and maintain cane yields. Root systems will be studied to evaluate the effect of various water table on rooting depth and root volume. Molecular markers will be used to screen sugarcane breeding populations to identify clones with desired characters.