Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) biotechnology research in South Africa

Abstract Commercial sugarcane, Saccharum spp. hybrids, arose from interspecific crossing in the late 1890s and the resultant complex polyploid genome has challenged conventional breeding approaches. The grower- and miller-funded South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) has a 100-yr history which began by breeding for local agroclimatic regions. Biotechnology for cultivar improvement was introduced in the early 1990s. Collaborations with local research institutes and the International Consortium for Sugarcane Biotechnology (ICSB) have enabled advances such as the genome sequence being published this year, signifying a real opportunity to implement bioinformatic and marker techniques for targeted cultivar enhancement. This review focuses on biotechnology-related interventions that have supported sugarcane research and resulted in SASRI-bred N cultivars being widely grown in many sub-Saharan African sugarcane-growing countries.