Location: Sugarcane Field Station
2021 Annual Report
Objectives
1. Develop sugarcane breeding populations with high quality seed for use in Florida and Louisiana, and select and advance elite clones to produce and release improved sugarcane cultivars for sustainable production in Florida.
2. Characterize abiotic and biotic stress tolerance of sugarcane breeding populations to determine agronomic, physiological, and genetic relationships, and use the information in breeding programs to improve efficiency of selection methodologies.
2.A. Develop physiological and agronomic methodologies to screen yield components of sugarcane clones for tolerance to flowering characteristics.
2.B. Compare and determine methodologies that improve selection efficiency and maximize genetic gains in the Canal Point sugarcane breeding programs.
2.C. Develop and compare physiological testing and genetic x environmental interactions for sugarcane and its relatives, to determine abiotic tolerance and yield potentials that can be used for both sugarcane and biomass yield advancement.
3. Elucidate the molecular and genetic bases of disease resistance, low temperature stress, high sucrose content, and high biomass yield, develop molecular markers, and use molecular markers to screen germplasm and progenies for stress tolerance, yield, and quality.
3.A. Develop and test genomic prediction models for clonal and parental selection for disease resistance, biomass yield, and sucrose content.
3.B. Identify and screen sugarcane and its relative germplasm for freeze damage and cold tolerance. Utilize genotypic sequencing and phenotypic screening to ascertain putative associative markers linking abiotic tolerance and yield response with specific genetic loci.
3.C. Develop molecular markers for sugarcane disease resistance and high sucrose concentration.
3.D. Development and utilization of 100K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array in Saccharum Spp.
Approach
The primary goal of this project is to improve yields and profits of Florida sugarcane growers by developing more productive and profitable cultivars with improved resistance and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Most research in genetics, agronomy, crop physiology, and molecular biology focuses on improving the breeding and selection of cultivars to yield more on muck and sand soils and have tolerance or durable resistance to diseases and abiotic stresses. This process will be enhanced through improved knowledge of classic and molecular genetics, identification of important traits for selection, and selection methodologies. A portion of the research aims to improve yields through modified agronomic practices.
Specific efforts may focus on developing improved cultivars with disease resistance and high sucrose concentration using different approaches, especially our new sand-soil program and this may include the pursuit of links between traditional efforts to breed for increased sucrose yields and newer programs that use sugarcane and related species for cellulosic ethanol and enhanced evaluations of the genotypes. The scientists at Canal Point are expected to interact with each other and with colleagues at the University of Florida in Gainesville and its Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, and with other public and private industry scientists in Florida and Louisiana, Texas, and other areas. Over the next 5 years, we will focus on our specific objectives.
Progress Report
Major diseases, such as orange rust, brown rust, smut, and leaf scald and cane sucrose content are still the challenges for the Florida sugarcane growers. Consistently developing disease tolerant and high sugar yield cultivars is important for sustainable sugarcane production. In addition to making efforts for improving the Canal Point (CP) sugarcane breeding and cultivar development programs (CP programs), true seeds, developed from crosses at Canal Point, Florida, were sent to the ARS sugarcane cultivar development program in Houma, Louisiana. In the 2020-2021 crossing season, approximately 723,885 seeds from 870 crosses were sent to Louisiana; 1,247,518 seeds from 1,201 crosses remained in Florida. Of these seeds and crosses, 908,149 seeds from 925 crosses for the regular (muck-soil) CP program; 220,563 seeds from 193 crosses made for the Florida sand land CP program; and 91,855 seeds from 59 crosses made for the Florida both soils or others. There were 81,224 seedlings from 272 crosses transplanted in the Seedling fields in May 2021 at Canal Point and approximately 10,205 seedlings (from 84 crosses) transplanted in Clewiston for sand soils in Florida in the second week of May 2021. Additionally, a total of 6,440 seedlings (from 162 crosses) were transplanted in the progeny tests at Canal Point in 2021. There were 9,366 genotypes planted in Stage I in late January – early February 2021 and 1,504 genotypes of CP-20 series planted in Stage II in late November 2020 at Canal Point, Florida. The CP cultivars developed by ARS researchers in Canal Point, Florida, occupied more than 95% of the sugarcane acreage in Florida in 2020. In 2021, for the 11 consecutive years, all stages of the sand-land selection program were planted on sand soils, beginning with the seedling stage with some specific crosses made for sand soils. In addition, all stages of the selection for the muck-soil CP program were conducted on muck soils. Cultivars released for a specific type of soils are further tested on the other type of soils to investigate if these cultivars can be adapted on the contrast soils. In 2021, there were five new varieties released, three (CP 14-1377, CP 14-1490, CP 14-1934) for muck soils and two (CP 13-4474, CP 13-4513) for sand soils in Florida. These new released cultivars are expected to yield well and are resistant/tolerant to most diseases.
Accomplishments
1. Development of high-yielding and disease resistant sugarcane cultivars. The biggest challenge sugarcane growers in Florida are facing is still orange rust and brown rust diseases. The rusts recently cause considerable yield losses and an increase in input costs of fungicide applications. Therefore, development of new cultivars with disease resistance, high yields, and high profits using different approaches, such as genetics, genomics, agronomy, physiology, and molecular biology, is our priority of the Canal Point (CP) sugarcane breeding and cultivar development programs. ARS scientists at Canal Point, Florida, collaborated with other institutes and released five new high-yielding sugarcane cultivars (CP 14-1377, CP 14-1490, and CP 14-1934 for muck soils and CP 13-4474 and CP 13-4513 for sand soils) with disease resistance / tolerance on 2 June 2021 for growers to use in Florida. The new cultivars will mitigate negative effects of brown and orange rusts and other stresses on sugar yield and profits in Florida.
2. Molecular markers for sugarcane orange rust resistance. Sugarcane orange rust appeared in Western hemisphere 13 years ago and negatively affected the Florida sugarcane industry as well as the Canal Point (CP) sugarcane cultivar development programs. ARS scientists in Canal Point, Florida, and in University of Florida worked closely from molecular approach to develop markers for improving screening efficiency and enhancing the rust resistance. The phenotypic disease data obtained from the segregating population have been used for marker development. Quantitative trait loci associated with orange rust resistance has been identified. The findings have been presented by ARS scientists in Canal Point, Florida,at national and international meetings and in peer reviewed Journals. Diagnostic markers will be further tested by ARS scientists in Canal Point, Florida, for potential use in the CP sugarcane cultivar development programs. The genomic selection model for rust diseases resistance has been calibrated and planning to use for validation population. One revised manuscript has been submitted to The Plant Genome.
Review Publications
Coto Arbelo, O., Sandhu, H., Momotaz, A., Davidson, W.R., Sandoya, G., Baltazar, M., Barreto, E., Laborde, C. 2021. Selection via cane yield and ratooning ability of sugarcane genotypes in sandy soils in Florida. Sugar Tech. 23(5);986–998. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-021-00973-9.
Gordon, V.S., Islam, M.S., McCord, P.H., Sandhu, H.H., Zhao, D., Davidson, W.R., Sood, S.G., Comstock, J.C., Singh, M.P., Baltazar, M. 2021. Registration of 'CP 10-1716' sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 15:68-78. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20083.
McCord, P.H., Sandhu, H.S., Zhao, D., Davidson, W.R., Gordon, V.S., Islam, M.S., Sood, S.G., Comstock, J.C., Baltazar, M., Singh, M.P. 2021. Registration of 'CP 11-1314' sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 15:79-88. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20087.
Momotaz, A., Davidson, W.R., Zhao, D., McCord, P.H., Sandhu, H.S., Baltazar, M., Islam, M.S., Coto Arbelo, O. 2020. Genotype-by-environment interaction analysis across three crop cycles in sugarcane. Journal of Crop Improvement. 35(2):276-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427528.2020.1817220.
Sandhu, H., Zhao, D., Davidson, W., Gordon, V.S., Islam, M.S., McCord, P., Sood, S.G., Baltazar, M., Singh, M. 2021. Registration of ‘CP 11-1956’ sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 15:98-106. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20111.
You, Q., Sood, S.G., Luo, Z., Liu, H., Islam, M.S., Zhang, M., Wang, J. 2020. Identifying genomic regions controlling ratoon stunting disease resistance in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.)clonal F1 population. The Crop Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cj.2020.10.010.
Zhao, D., Davidson, W.R., Gordon, V.S., Islam, M.S., Sandhu, H.S., Sood, S.G., Baltazar, M., McCord, P.H., Coto Arbelo, O., Momotaz, A. 2021. Registration of ‘CP 11-1640’ sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 15:326-336. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20123.
Zhao, D., Zhu, K., Momotaz, A., Gao, X. 2020. Sugarcane plant growth and physiological responses to soil salinity during tillering and stalk elongation. Agriculture. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10120608.
