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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Houma, Louisiana » Sugarcane Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #397639
Research Project: Water and Soil Resources in Sustainable Sugarcane Production Systems for Temperate Climates

Location: Sugarcane Research

Title: Genetics, environment, and the color of sugar

Author
item Hale, Anna
item Mula-Michel, Himaya
item Todd, James
item Dufrene Jr, Edwis

Submitted to: Sugar Bulletin
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/2/2022
Publication Date: 10/1/2022
Citation: Hale, A.L., Mula-Michel, H.P., Todd, J.R., Dufrene Jr, E.O. 2022. Genetics, environment, and the color of sugar. Sugar Bulletin. 101 21-24.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The USDA-ARS Sugarcane Research Unit’s Variety Development Program routinely assesses sugarcane and its wild relatives for traits of importance to the sugarcane industry. In recent years, there has been an increase in the color of Louisiana's raw sugar, which requires extra processing expense to remove and results in lost profit to the industry. Since 2017 the team as been evaluating color trends in released varieties and those under development. Sugarcane variety trials were analyzed between 2017 and 2021 to determine the effect of variety, location and crop on the color of sugar. In addition, over 2500 sugarcane types in early stages of the breeding program were assessed. The variety HoCP 96-540, which is decreasing in acreage had less than half of the color seen in the current leading variety L 01-299, and the more recently released HoCP 09-804 which could explain some of the increasing color of raw sugar at the factory. Not all new varieties are high in color, and careful selection of new breeding material could mitigate the problem. Research is underway to further investigate color in the industry.