Location: Sugarcane Field Station
Project Number: 6030-21000-007-041-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2026
End Date: Aug 31, 2027
Objective:
The objective is to protect U.S. sugarcane from emerging diseases by characterizing disease-causing pathogens and selecting diseaseresistant
sugarcane varieties.
Approach:
Utilize conventional techniques to characterize plant pathogens causing emerging diseases of sugarcane. Emphasis will be placed on soil-borne diseases of sugarcane to complement current breeding for disease resistance activities. Diseased sugarcane will be sampled throughout the sugarcane agricultural areas in South Florida at quarterly intervals from USDA and University research stations in addition to nine growers fields where replicated yield trials are present. Diseased sugarcane samples received from growers will also be solicited. Sugarcane tissues will be sterilized and plant pathogens isolated according to established methods for Fusarium, Colletotrichum, and other soil-borne pathogens. Selective media will be utilized to isolate various species. Microscopic studies of isolates will identify pathogen characteristics. This will be complemented by sequencing housekeeping genes to identify species and clades of the pathogens. Inoculation asays will be conducted to confirm the pathogenicity of the isolates. Co-inoculation studies may be utilized to assess disease causing-pathogens. The distribution and species richness of soil-borne pathogens will be reported. In order to mitigate emerging diseases, inoculation assays of stage 3 and stage 4 germplasm in the sugarcane breeding program will be evaluated for response to pathogen isolates that were confirmed causes of emerging diseases. The results of the inoculation assays will be reported to the breeding program to enable the selection of sugarcane varieties with resistance or tolerance to emerging diseases.