Disease threats to Australian sugarcane crops

Rob Magarey, Sugar Research Australia/ Tully, Australia

The present presentation is divided into two phase, the first outlines the most important sugarcane pathology challenges faced by the Australian sugarcane industry over the last 40 years. Information is presented on the types of causal agents, the unique challenges posed by each, the inevitability of disease occurrence due to the widely-adopted sugarcane cropping system, and preparations made by the Australian industry to minimise the impact of diseases, when they occur. Collaboration with other countries is deemed to be very important, as are recent developments in molecular assays for both pathogens and germplasm breeding lines. Diseases will remain an ongoing priority for the Australian, and world-wide, sugarcane industry. In the second part of the talk, emphasis will be done at breeding strategies for the development of commercial varieties resistant to Australian sugarcane diseases which will outline methods for assessing disease resistance in clones in the plant improvement selection program. Details are provided not only on individual methods, but also on how the data are analysed, stored, retrieved and used in the selection program. The database used by individual farmers to select commercial varieties for cropping is also described. The dynamics of the disease-sugarcane cropping system is also discussed in relation to the selection priority for each disease. Strategies associated with the recent outbreak of sugarcane smut are compared to what happened with the orange rust epidemic of 2000-2001. 

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