Reasons for slow genetic improvement in sugarcane relative to other crops

The rate of improvement in sugarcane commercial yields in recent decades has been low relative to sugar beet and some other major crops. This is due in part to a relatively slower rate of genetic improvement in sugarcane. Sugarcane breeding programs worldwide have long used a general breeding system which no longer appears well suited to achieving fast inter-generational genetic gains (parental improvement) in modern breeding germplasm. Examples of major innovations in breeding system design being tested are not clearly apparent.

From an institutional perspective, sugarcane breeding is conducted by greater than 40 national level programs, owned and directed by local sugar industry clients and/or governments. By contrast, breeding of sugar beet and some other major crops is by companies or organisations whose core business or expertise is crop improvement, often multi-national and large in scale, and often operating in a competitive environment; and these arrangements collectively are perhaps more conducive to major and effective innovation than in sugarcane. Sugarcane is less attractive to companies specialising in crop breeding and genetics because protecting plant variety intellectual property rights and ensuring ongoing sales of top varieties would be challenging in most sugarcane industries. It seems likely that current conditions in relation to sugarcane breeding and recent trends in productivity gains may persist, and therefore that sugar beet may become increasingly competitive with sugarcane in future in terms of sugar production cost.