Assessment of the first cycle hybrid progenies for early high sugar content in sugarcane

Abstract

Enhancing the sucrose content of the varieties through breeding is essential for attaining sustainable sugar production. To achieve this, new parental clones capable of much higher levels of sucrose accumulation than found in the commercial varieties are to be developed. A recurrent selection scheme with a base population of eighteen Indian commercial hybrids and eight exotic hybrids was adopted. Preliminary screening of 5420 hybrid seedling progenies from thirty biparental crosses for juice brix in the ground nursery revealed four productive cross combinations viz., CoC 671 x Co 99002, Co 86002 x Co 7915, Co 7201 x Co 62198 and PR 1080 x Co 94008. These crosses contributed more individuals with high juice brix performing better than the cross average. In the SUbsequent clonal evaluation of cycle I hybrid progenies, 104 clones registered more than 23 percent juice brix at ten months of crop age. With regard to the progress made in cycle I for juice sucrose, five clones viz., 02·071,02-094,02-137,02-230 and 02-295 recorded more than ten percent improvement over the best check variety CoC 671. Screening the high quality clones for their reaction to red rot pathogen indicated three crosses viz., Co 7201x Co 62198, Co 85002 x CoT 8201 and CP 49-50 x CoT 8201 giving more clones combining high sucrose and red rot resistance.