Maximising Economic Benefits to the Whole Sugarcane Industry from the Bses-csiro Sugarcane Improvement Program

EVERY sugarcane grower would like the best levels of performance for all traits, such as high cane yield, high sugar content, resistance or tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, and every other desirable attribute, all combined together into the same variety. In the real world, however, almost all the important crop traits vary continuously and mostly independently, in genetic populations generated in breeding programs. Therefore, the best levels of all or even most crop traits will hardly ever coincide in the same clones. Therefore, it is often difficult to determine which individual clones should be selected. A compromise between desirable levels of different traits has to be reached; for example, a trade off may be necessary between higher sugar content and lower cane yield. The challenge for breeders is then how to achieve the compromise. An incorrect bias for or against any trait will reduce the economic return to the sugar industry from investment in breeding programs. For example, too much emphasis on cane yield over CCS could result in lower economic value, due to increased costs on harvesting, transporting and milling in cultivars with high cane yield, compared with those with high CCS. In this paper, we discuss how the economic importance of each trait is determined to maximise economic returns through genetic improvement for sugar production in Australia. Preliminary results of the economic impact of incremental changes in CCS, cane yield and fibre content for different regions are presented as an example.