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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #271547

Title: Stalk cold tolerance of commercial and candidate varieties during the 2010-2011 harvest season

Author
item LEGENDRE, B - LSU Agcenter
item Tew, Thomas
item Hale, Anna
item BIRKETT, H - LSU Agcenter
item Eggleston, Gillian
item Duet, Michael
item STEIN, J - LSU Agcenter

Submitted to: Extension Publications
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2011
Publication Date: 6/15/2011
Citation: Legendre, B., Tew, T., Hale, A., Birkett, H., Eggleston, G., Duet Jr, Michael, Stein, J. 2011. Stalk cold tolerance of commercial and candidate varieties during the 2010-2011 harvest season. 2010 Sugarcane Research Annual Progress Report. p. 148-156.

Interpretive Summary: The frequent winter freezes in the sugarcane area of Louisiana force the industry to adapt to a short growing season (7-9 months) and a short milling season (3 months). The post-freeze deterioration of stalks of ten commercial and one candidate sugarcane were investigated for cold or freeze tolerance. HoCP 04-838 variety had significantly better stalk cold tolerance than any of the other varieties in the test and was rated as “Resistant or Very Good”. LCP 85-384, HoCP 96-540, L 97-128, HoCP 00-950, L 01-283 and L 01-299 were rated as “Intermediate or Good” while L 99-226, L 99-233, L 03-371 and TucCP 77-42 were rated as “Susceptible or Poor”. These ratings were mostly comparable to the ones given the varieties the previous year following a freeze event of similar magnitude and duration.

Technical Abstract: The exposure of sugarcane to damaging frosts occurs in over 20 of the 79 sugarcane producing countries, but is most frequent on the mainland of the United States. The frequent winter freezes in the sugarcane area of Louisiana forced the industry to adapt to a short growing season (7-9 months) and a short milling season (about 3 months). In order to measure the post-freeze deterioration of stalks of commercial and candidate varieties, a collaborative study was conducted between the LSU AgCenter, Audubon Sugar Institute, St. Gabriel, LA and the USDA-ARS, Sugarcane Research Unit at Houma and New Orleans, LA, at the USDA-ARS Ardoyne Farm on Bull Run Road at Chacahoula, LA. Ten commercial and 1 candidate varieties were planted at the Ardoyne Farm during the late summer 2009. The commercial varieties included in the study were: LCP 85-384, HoCP 96-540, L 97-128, L 99-226, L 99-233, HoCP 00-950, L 01-283, L 01-299, L 03-371 and TucCP 77-42 (Argentina). The candidate variety included in the study was: HoCP 04-838. From the data, it appears that HoCP 04-838 has significantly better stalk cold tolerance than any of the other varieties in the test and was rated as “Resistant or Very Good”. LCP 85-384, HoCP 96-540, L 97-128, HoCP 00-950, L 01-283 and L 01-299 were rated as “Intermediate or Good” while L 99-226, L 99-233, L 03-371 and TucCP 77-42 were rated as “Susceptible or Poor”. These ratings are mostly comparable to the ones given the varieties the previous year following a freeze event of similar magnitude and duration. However, the rating of one variety, HoCP 00-950, was switched from Resistant to Intermediate with additional data. The ratings for the 2010-2011 harvest season are subject to change with data on total soluble polysaccharide, mannitol and dextran which are considered more sensitive criteria for determining stalk cold tolerance.