Over thirty growers and other interested visitors gathered at the SASRI Gingindlovu Research Station on the afternoon of 3 July to delve into the mysteries of the world-class SASRI plant breeding programme.

Plant breeders Dr Marvellous Zhou, Moipei Lichakane and Dr Shailesh Joshi led growers on a drive-through tour of the Ging farm, which is primarily used to test and select potential varieties. It was fascinating to hear the vast numbers of potential varieties that are bred each year, and how they are tested, and whittled down, over the years to produce just one or two new varieties annually. Each year, good parents are specifically selected to be bred at SASRI’s Mount Edgecombe plant-crossing tunnels, where they are forced into flowering and then crossed with a selected mate. The plant breeders arrange very specific marriages! From these crosses, approximately
200 000 offspring (seeds) are planted out at the various research farms, which are dotted strategically throughout the industry.

Over the following 10-12 years, the plants are intensively sampled for a seemingly endless array of variables, including all pests and diseases, flowering, yield and quality markers, and the weaker candidates are slowly weeded out until only the best remain. At the end of this long process, one or two varieties will be released – only if they produce at least 10% more sucrose than the strongest varieties currently available in the area.

The plant breeding staff work with enormous databases which they analyse constantly, looking not only for the best potential varieties, but also for potential parents which, though perhaps not suitable for release as a variety, may show promising characteristics in their genes. All of this happens over five SASRI farms, along with multiple off-site (grower-owned) sites where further information is gathered; and with 200 000 new babies being produced every single year, they have their hands full! In addition to our own substantial genetic collection, SASRI exchanges genetic material with numerous other sugarcane-producing countries, to ensure that we have access to the best genes that the world has to offer.

A question to the breeders from one of the day’s guests summed up what a lot of people might wonder – “How do you fit all this work into each year?!” – and the answer is, with great teamwork, a lot of planning and a formidable history of plant breeding excellence. This valuable insight into the plant breeding process is a reminder that growers’ levies are being spent on the most important things of all – keeping our industry strong, through a research and development programme that is world-class.

SASRI has four more grower days scheduled in various regions:

• Empangeni Research Station Grower Day on Wednesday, 24 July at 2pm
• Pongola Research Station Grower Day on Wednesday, 28 August 2024 at 2pm
• Komati Research Station Grower Day on Wednesday, 18 September 2024 at 2pm
• Bruyns Hill Research Station Grower Day on Wednesday, 30 October 2024 at 2pm

For more information, or to attend the grower days in your area, please contact your nearest SASRI Extension Office.