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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #76608
Title: MULTIBUD MUTANTS OF SUGARCANE

Author
item Burner, David
item Legendre, Benjamin

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids), a vegetatively propagated crop, normally has one shoot bud at each node of a stalk. Multiple bud (multibud) mutants are characterized by the presence of more than one bud per node. The multibud trait may enhance primary stalk production and reduce the amount of seed cane required to plant a unit area. Six multibud dclones, one gall-forming multibud clone, and two check cultivars were studied in plant cane crops in 1995 and 1996. Data were collected on multibud production, bud germination, tiller and stalk numbers, and sucrose and fiber concentrations. Genetic transmission was also studied in progeny of 19 crosses in which at least one parent was multibud. Data from 1995 showed that multibud clones were unexceptional in shoot and stalk production even though the total number of buds planted exceeded the number of buds planted of the checks. Heritability of the trait was low; about 2% %of progeny were multibud. This was expected given the complexity of the sugarcane genome. Efforts are now underway to incorporate the multibud trait into an agronomically acceptable phenotype.