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- New sugarcane variety released for 2018 planting
(05/31/18) BATON ROUGE, La. — Through the joint efforts of the LSU AgCenter, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Sugar Cane League, a new sugarcane variety called L 11-183 has been released for the 2018 planting season.
AgCenter sugarcane breeder Collins Kimbeng said the new variety has positive and negative attributes.
“As for the desirable traits, L 11-183 comes in between HoCP 96-540 and L 01-299,” Kimbeng said. “Right now, L 01-299 is the most widely grown variety, right at about 45 percent. HoCP 96-540 comes in second at about 25 percent.
L 11-183 is resistant to smut and moderately resistant to leaf scald, sugarcane yellow leaf virus and ratoon stunting disease, he said. It is moderately susceptible to brown rust and sorghum mosaic virus.
Field observations indicate the variety is attractive to yellow sugarcane aphids. It is not any more susceptible than other sugarcane varieties currently in production to herbicides commonly used for weed control in sugarcane.
L 11-183 was derived from a cross made at the AgCenter Sugar Research Station in St. Gabriel in 2006 between HoCP 92-624 as the female parent and LCP 85-384 as the male parent.
Averaged across all plant cane, first stubble and second stubble crops, L 11-183 produced 4 percent less cane yield — tons of cane per acre — than L 01-299, the leading variety in the Louisiana sugar industry. But sucrose content — pounds of sugar per ton of cane — was comparable to the two older varieties.
With a maturity profile similar to L 01-299 and HoCP 96-540, L 11-183 can be classified as a medium-to- late-maturing variety when compared to HoCP 00-950, which accumulates relatively high levels of sugar early in the harvest season, Kimbeng said.
“Seed cane of L 11-183 will be distributed by the American Sugar Cane League in accordance with the procedures to be announced to all sugarcane growers in Louisiana on or after July 1, 2018,” Kimbeng said.
Inquiries concerning seed cane should be directed to the American Sugar Cane League, 206 East Bayou Road, Thibodaux, LA 70301.
Neither the AgCenter nor the USDA has seed cane available for distribution.