Australian sugarcane improvement: Current concerns

Australian sugarcane improvement programs are facing dramatically increased client specificity in demand for cultivars with characteristics that are not necessarily being well addressed in core programs. The increased demand for specificallyadapted, high-yielding cultivars is coupled with budgets that are diminishing in real terms. Debate on continued use of present philosophy, efficiency of experimental procedures, and market focus of the programs therefore is timely. As part of this, recommendations are offered to improve several aspects that impact on the overall success of the current programs. The broad areas discussed include the relevance of the current selection focus to industry, the appropriateness of current field sampling and laboratory analytical techniques, and the time taken to deliver gains secured from crop improvement to industry at large. Many of the issues raised in this paper previously have not been subjected to serious scientific debate in the Australian sugarcane i.mprovement context. Limited economically-based analyses demonstrate these issues are of significant importance to the sugar industry, and accordingly they should not be dismissed. Resolution of these issues would mean that the crop improvement programs would be more sharply focussed on delivering relevant industry benefits in a more time effective manner.