Pathogenic Variation in Spore Populations of Sporisorium scitamineum, Causal Agent of Sugarcane Smut in Australia.

An incursion of sugarcane smut in Queensland was identified in 2006 in Bundaberg, Ingham, and Mackay. In 2008, two cultivars, 'Q205' and 'Q170', were highly susceptible in Bundaberg but remained disease free on a heavily infested farm in Mackay. A glasshouse experiment was established to determine whether the differences in disease expression were due to the sources of the two cultivars sourced from Bundaberg and Mackay in 2009.

Impact of depth of pedigree and inclusion of historical data on the estimation of additive variance and breeding values in a sugarcane breeding program.

Sugarcane breeders in Australia combine data across four selection programs to obtain estimates of breeding value for parents. When these data are combined with full pedigree information back to founding parents, computing limitations mean it is not possible to obtain information on all parents. Family data from one sugarcane selection program were analysed using two different genetic models to investigate how different depths of pedigree and amount of data affect the reliability of estimating breeding value of sugarcane parents.