Genetic stocks for early high sugar content generated over two selection cycles in sugarcane

Selection for sucrose content is a high priority in sugarcane breeding programmes. A recurrent selection programme with two cycles of crossing and selection was carried out. Fifteen Indian commercial hybrids and twelve foreign hybrids constituted the parental clones for this study. In cycle I, CoC 671 x Co 99002 was the best family contributing thirty five percent progenies recording brix above the cross average. In the crosses between foreign and Indian hybrids, PR 1080 x CoT 8201 and PR 1080 x Co 86011 recorded a maximum of 23.4% brix and contributed more than 25 percent selections with high brix. Clonal evaluation of cycle I hybrids resulted in 110 selections for high sucrose, of which thirty cycle I hybrid clones (eighteen clones as females and twelve as males) served as parental clones for the next selection cycle. Sucrose values of cycle II hybrid progenies ranged from 20.5% to 23.8%. The gain for sucrose content after two selection cycles was substantial with 13.40% improvement over the base population. The high sucrose clones identified in this study are expected to serve as an enhanced gene pool for juice sucrose in sugarcane breeding programmes.