Registration of ‘L 12-201’ sugarcane

Authors: PONTIF, MICHAEL - LSU Agcenter; KIMBENG, COLLINS - LSU Agcenter; GRAVOIS, KENNETH - LSU Agcenter; BISHOFF, KEITH - LSU Agcenter; SEXTON, DAVID - LSU Agcenter; LABORDE, CHRISTOPHER - Us Sugar Corporation; HAWKINS, GERTRUDE - LSU Agcenter; HOY, JEFFREY - LSU Agcenter; BAISAKH, NIRANJAN - LSU Agcenter; WILSON, BLAKE - LSU Agcenter; ORGERON, ALBERT - LSU Agcenter; Todd, James; WAGUESPACK, HERMAN - American Sugar Cane League

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/19/2021
Publication Date: 2/16/2022
Citation: Pontif, M., Kimbeng, C., Gravois, K.A., Bishoff, K.P., Sexton, D.R., Laborde, C.M., Hawkins, G., Hoy, J., Baisakh, N., Wilson, B.E., Orgeron, A., Todd, J.R., Waguespack, H.L. 2022. Registration of ‘L 12-201’ sugarcane. Journal of Plant Registrations. 16(2):363-377. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20185.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20185

Interpretive Summary: Sugarcane varieties are important to south Louisiana to increase yield and diversity. To fill this need, elite clones from the variety development program at the LSU Agcenter, in St. Gabriel, Louisiana are evaluated on station and throughout Louisiana to identify new adapted cultivars to release for the region. One of these, L 12-201, had superior cane and sugar yield in plant cane crop to the current check cultivar L 01-299, and L 12-201 had comparible sucrose content to the check in first and second ratoon. L 12-201 is resistant to several sugarcane diseases including smut, leaf scald and ratoon stunt. This release of this cultivar gives the Louisiana industry a new high yielding cultivar.

Technical Abstract: L 12-201 sugarcane (interspecific hybrid of Saccharum spp.) was released for commercial production in the Louisiana sugar industry in April 2019. L 12-201 was derived from a cross between the female parent L 97-128 and the male parent HoCP 96-540. Early-stage selection through the seedling and two un-replicated clonal stages by researchers at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center culminated in the assignment of a permanent varietal designation in 2012. Thereafter, the experimental variety was further evaluated cooperatively with personnel from the USDA-ARS at Houma and the American Sugarcane League, Inc., at Thibodaux, Louisiana through several stages in multiple locations. In the final testing stage, data were collected from 60 replicated, combine-harvested trials at 12 locations that represent both light-textured and heavy-textured soil locations. Averaged across the plant-cane crop, sucrose content (pounds of sugar per ton of cane), cane yield (tons of cane per acre) and sugar yield (pounds of sugar per acre) were significantly higher in L 12-201 than in L 01-299, the leading cultivar in the Louisiana sugar industry. In the first and second ratoon crops, L 12-201 was significantly less in cane and sugar yields than L 01-299 but was comparable to L 01-299 in sucrose content. L 12-201 performed comparably for all traits in both the light-textured and heavy-textured soil locations. The new cultivar had a lower population of stalks that were heavier, compared with L 01-299, especially in the ratoon crops. L 12-201 is a mid-maturing cultivar that could benefit from the application of ripener treatment to enhance sucrose content. Whenever possible, L 12-201 should be harvested earlier before the frost as it was among the least cold tolerant cultivar compared with other cultivars in the industry. L 12-201 is resistant to mosaic (caused by sorghum mosaic), smut, leaf scald, and ratoon stunt, moderately resistant to brown rust, and susceptible to yellow leaf and the sugarcane borer.