Tissue Culture

NovaCane®

NovaCane® is a SASRI-developed (and trademark-registered) tissue culture technology through which a whole plant can be produced from a tiny portion (less than 2 mm) of the growing point from a parent plant. This ensures the production of disease-free and true-to-type sugarcane plants.

SASRI’s Tissue Culture Facility

The primary focus of the NovaCane® tissue culture facility at SASRI is the propagation of superior sugarcane genotypes in the final stage of the Plant Breeding programme. This ensures that sufficient disease-free and true-to-type planting material is available for bulking upon variety release. Since its establishment in 2016, the NovaCane® laboratory has produced over 1.5 million plantlets.

The NovaCane® technology is also routinely used on all imported and exported varieties in SASRI’s quarantine facility.

Commercial Facilities

To cater for growers’ demand for NovaCane® plants for use as a source of seedcane on their own farms, SASRI has shared the technology with several commercial tissue culture laboratories. SASRI supplies certified starting material, performs fingerprinting and conducts regular audit visits to these laboratories. Growers wanting to plant NovaCane® plantlets of released N varieties should contact their Extension Specialist for details of the nearest commercial lab. Orders must be placed 12 months before the planting date.

Please also refer to SASRI’s NovaCane® planting guide.