Location: Sugarcane Field Station
2023 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Identify variations in sugarcane pathogens that are endemic and detect emerging pathogens in Florida. ARS researchers in Canal Point, Florida, found four morphologically distinct isolates of leaf scald pathogen Xanthomonas albilineans. We also found sugarcane mild mosaic virus (SCMMV) in the Canal Point parental lines. We surveyed SCMMV in sugarcane germplasms at Canal Point and the world collection of sugarcane at Miami. We found that this virus is more prevalent than reported previously.
2. Characterization of endophytes from sugarcane plants with different disease reactions. ARS researchers in Canal Point, Florida, found that inoculation of Xanthomonas albilineans (pathogen of leaf scald disease) affected the bacterial and fungal microbiome in a pre-trial. We planted another trial in November 2023 to reproduce the results of our pre-trial. A February freeze event killed above ground canopy of sugarcane at Canal Point. It took a couple of months for plants to recover from freeze damage. After recovery, we inoculated the clones with sugarcane mosaic virus (strain E; cause mosaic) and Xanthomonas albilineans.
3. Screen sugarcane clones for brown rust, orange rust, leaf scald, sugarcane mosaic, smut, and ratoon stunting diseases. Sugarcane is a genetically complex polyploid clonally propagated and has multi-year crop cycles. The major diseases in Florida are brown and orange rusts, leaf scald, sugarcane mosaic virus, ratoon stunt disease (RSD), and smut. These diseases could cause 10 to 60% yield losses in the susceptible cultivars under stressed conditions. Therefore, the local sugarcane industry must cultivate high-yielding disease-resistant cultivars for sustainable and profitable sugar production. Sugarcane growers in Florida rely entirely on the improved Canal Point (CP) sugarcane cultivars. The development of the disease resistant cultivars starts with the crossing and later selection of resistant clones at every stage of the program and takes more than ten years. In June 2023, Florida Sugarcane Variety Committee released five new cultivars for organic soil CP 12-2479, CP 14-1933, CP 16-1825, CP 16-1883, CP 16- 2283, and three for mineral soil CP 12-2035, CP 15-4302, and CP 13-4165 that are resistant and tolerant to the diseases mentioned earlier, developed by the ARS scientists at Canal Point, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the Florida Sugar Cane League. The CP cultivars have significantly contributed to sustainable sugarcane production in Florida.
Review Publications
Sood, S.G., Momotaz, A., Baltazar, M., Coto Arbelo, O., Davidson, W.R., Islam, M.S., Sandhu, H., Zhao, D., Gordon, V.S. 2023. Registration of ‘CP 14-1377’ sugarcane for organic soils in Florida. Journal of Plant Registrations. 17:114-124. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20275.
Sood, S.G., Gordon, V.S., Coto, O. 2023. Effect of sugarcane yellow leaf virus in the second clonal stage of the Canal Point cultivar development program. International Sugar Journal. 148:408-411. https://doi.org/10.36961/si29966.
Coto Arbelo, O., Momotaz, A., Sandhu, H.S., Sood, S.G., Davidson, W.R., Baltazar, M., Zhao, D. 2023. Selection of new sugarcane genotypes for sandy soils in Florida with enhanced sucrose yield. Agriculture. 13:1079. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13051079.
Coto Arbelo, O., Davidson, W.R., Islam, M.S., Sandhu, H.S., Zhao, D., Sood, S.G., Momotaz, A., Baltazar, M., Gordon, V.S. 2022. Registration of ‘CP 14-1934’ sugarcane for Florida organic soils. Journal of Plant Registrations. 17:91-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20260.
Islam, M.S., Qin, L., Mccord, P.H., Sood, S.G. 2023. Enhancing prediction accuracy by incorporating known locus (Bru1) as fixed effect for brown rust resistance in sugarcane. International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Proceedings. 31:443-446.
Momotaz, A., Baltazar, M., Coto Arbelo, O., Davidson, W., Islam, M.S., Sandhu, H., Zhao, D., Sood, S.G., Gordon, V.S. 2022. Registration of ‘CP 14-1490’ sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 17:102-113. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20264.
Islam, M.S., Sandhu, H.S., Zhao, D., Sood, S.G., Momotaz, A., Baltazar, M., Coto Arbelo, O., Davidson, W.R., Gordon, V.S. 2022. Registration of ‘CP 13-4474’ sugarcane for sand soils. Journal of Plant Registrations. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20259.
