Breeding of Sugarcane Variety Yuetang 07-817 with High Sugar Content and High Yield
Yuetang 07-817 was selected from cross Yuenong 73-204 (female parent) × ROC22 (male parent) at Guangdong Provincial Bioengineering Institute (Guangzhou Sugarcane Industry Research Institute). It was approved as a new variety by the Guangdong Crop Variety Approval Committee in September 2016. Multiple-year and multiple-location evaluations showed that Yuetang 07-817 had the following good characteristics: high emergence rate; strong tillering ability with more millable canes, mid to large size, and uniform stalks; easy foliar defoliating at maturity; resistance to lodging; good ratooning ability with high germination rate; early maturity; high sugar content; and high and stable yield. During 2009~2014, the average cane yield of Yuetang 07-817 from variety comparison and Guangdong provincial trials involving six plant crop years and five ratoon crop years was 129340 kg/hm2, which was 36623 kg/hm2 and 10256 kg/hm2 higher than the that of the check variety ROC16 (CK1) and ROC22 (CK2), respectively. The average sugar content was 20103 kg/hm2, which was also 5971 kg/hm2 and 1854 kg/hm2 higher than that of the check variety ROC16 (CK1) and ROC22(CK2).