2008 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) To select and cross superior sugarcane parents, produce true-seed and test new sugarcane clones to identify and release higher-yielding disease-resistant sugarcane cultivars. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) ARS and the Cooperator will produce and exchange true-seed (commonly called Fuzz), superior experimental lines, and/or new varieties (Material) for use in their respective breeding programs and/or for testing and evaluation as parental clones and/or as commercial cultivars. 3.Progress Report In the 2007/2008 crossing season we sent more than 50,000 seeds from 380 crosses to the breeding program at Texas A&M University. Of these 380 crosses, seeds from 271 crosses using 511 female tassels were made and shared between the ARS Florida program and the Texas A&M breeding program. This relates to Objective 1 of the parent project: Develop more efficient breeding and selection methodologies for cultivar development and to produce seed of selected sugarcane germplasm for use in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Progress was monitored during one week that support personnel from Texas A&M spent at USDA-ARS Canal Point, FL making crosses for Texas. In addition, there were several emails and phone calls between scientists at College Station and Canal Point to decide on parent genotypes to be used for Texas and to identify genotypes not currently at Canal Point that needed to be imported.