The South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) recently completed a project titled “Prediction of Resistance to Pests and Diseases using NIR”, led by Principal Scientist, Dr Stuart Rutherford.
The project explored the use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIR) as a fast, non-destructive way to predict resistance in sugarcane against major pests and diseases. These included smut, yellow sugarcane aphid (YSA), eldana, and Fusarium. Unlike traditional field trials, which are time-consuming and labour-intensive, NIR scanning allows researchers to gather information from intact plant surfaces quickly and reliably.
Progress
Key progress so far includes:
- Developing inoculation methods to screen sugarcane varieties for resistance to eldana and smut.
- Establishing that leaf disc-based NIR scanning of inoculated leaf discs can predict resistance to smut or Fusarium.
- Creating a preliminary NIR model that successfully distinguished resistant and susceptible reactions to YSA.
- Demonstrating that lesion length following stab inoculation of Fusarium into leaf midribs correlates strongly with eldana resistance in the field.
Length of red lesions caused by Fusarium correlates well with eldana resistance ratings.
The project also resulted in an MSc thesis, three international conference posters, and a large archive of methods and data for future research.
For more information on the project please email sasri@sugar.org.za