SIX NEW PROMISING SUGARCANE VARIETIES FOR PRODUCTION TRIALS

Sugar and Sugarcane Research and Development Center (SSRDC)

After being imported in 2005 and one year of quarantine, some foreign sugarcane varieties that were found to be free from any disease were subjected to field tests both in small scale and large scale in four ecological regions: North Central, South Central, North East and Delta Mekong River region. These trials aimed at determining the performance of the exotic varieties in terms of the following traits and purposes as below:

- Cane yield: The most important measurement unit used for cane yield was Tons of Cane per Hectare (TC/Ha). Varieties chosen performed their cane yield over 70-80 TC/Ha in areas without water irrigation and 90-100 TC/Ha in areas with water irrigation.

- Cane quality: The measurement used for cane quality was Commercial Cane Sugar – CCS (%). Varieties were chosen according to the performance of cane quality of more than 11 CCS.

- Resistance to diseases: Having the resistant traits of the 4 major diseases of sugarcane in Vietnam (bacterial ratoon stunting disease - RSD, smut fungus disease, red rot fungus disease; phytoplasma white leaf disease and moth borers).

- Agronomic characteristics: These include the tillering ability, stand and trashiness according to the

Guidelines of MARD for testing the sugarcane varieties (1997).

- Check or control varieties: The field trials included 1-2 check or control varieties and another two varieties that were commonly grown in the trial area. This enabled the performance of the foreign varieties to be compared with these local varieties that have been published. Some common sugarcane varieties were used as the check or control varieties are My55-14 in the North Central region, R579 in the South Central, VN84-4137 in the North East, K84-200 in Delta Mekong River

- Trial time: The trials measured the performance of varieties both planted and ratoon crops.

Based on their performance during the field trials, six of the foreign varieties were certificated by MARD in 12/2010. These are K88-200, K95-156, KU60-1, KU00-1-61 and Suphanburi 7 which most derived from Thailand. SSRDC has now released these varieties for production trials. Cane seeds will be dispersed for propagation and further variety trials, and for subsequent packaging of cultural practices. Planters can now contact SSRDC to obtain materials of these new varieties for production trials.

Some agronomic - industrial characteristics and their images

Variety name: KK2 Parentage: K85-2 x K88-200 Good germination Moderate tillering Slow growing at the beginning, but fast later Non – flowering Moderate standing Early maturity (10-11 months) Non self-detrashing Good ratooning but slow High cane yield (80-100 TC/Ha) Very high quality (12-13 CCS) Highly resistant to smut; moderately resistant

to RSD, red rot; lowly resistant to moth borers, white leaf disease

KK2 is recommended for North Central region

Variety name: K88-200 Parentage: ROC1 x CP63-588 Moderate germination Good tillering Slow growing at beginning, but fast later. Non- flowering Good standing Mid-Late maturity (12-13 months) Non self-detrashing Good ratooning High cane yield (80-100 TC/Ha) High quality (11-12 CCS) Highly resistant to smut, red rot; moderately

resistant to RSD, moth borers and white leaf disease

K88-200 is recommended for South East region

Variety name: K95-156 Parentage: PL310 x U-THONG 1 Good germination Moderate tillering Fast growing Profuse flowering Very good standing Mid maturity (11-12 months) Moderate self-detrashing Good ratooning Very high cane yield (110-140 TC/Ha) High quality (11 -13 CCS) Highly resistant to smut, red rot, moth

borers; moderately resistant to RSD, white leaf disease

K95-156 is recommended for Delta Mekong River, South East and South Central region

Variety name: KU60-1 Parentage: Co775 x K84-200 Good germination Moderate tillering Slow growing at beginning, but fast

after Non flowering Moderate standing Mid maturity (11-12 months) Non self-detrashing Moderate ratooning Very high cane yield (100-120 TC/Ha) High quality (11 -14 CCS) Highly resistant to smut; moderately

resistant to RSD, red rot, white leaf disease, scale insect, moth borers.

KU60-1 is recommended for Delta Mekong River region

Variety name: KU00-1-61 Parentage: K84-200 x polycross Good germination Moderate tillering Fast growing Non flowering Moderate standing Mid maturity (11-12 months) Moderate self-detrashing Good ratooning High cane yield (100-110 TC/Ha) High quality (11 -13 CCS) Highly resistant to smut; moderately resistant

to RSD, red rot, white leaf disease, moth borers.

KU00-1-61 is recommended for Delta Mekong River region

Variety name: Suphanburi 7 Parentage: 85-2-352 x K84-200 Good germination Good tillering Fast growing Moderate flowering Moderate standing Mid maturity (11-12 months) Self-detrashing Good ratooning Very high cane yield (110-130 TC/Ha) High quality (11 -12 CCS) Highly resistant to smut; moderately

resistant to RSD, red rot, moth borers; lowly resistant to white leaf disease

Suphanburi 7 is recommended for Delta Mekong River region